10/30/18 At the end of this article: see responses to two inquiries from readers about this research.

Northern N.Y.;  October 15, 2018.   Northern New York dairy farmers are using a whole-farm nutrient mass balance software tool to identify opportunities to improve their farmwide use of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The ultimate goal is enhancing watershed and agricultural stewardship while simultaneously increasing on-farm efficiency, milk production, and crop yield.

Farms participating in the assessment of the use of the software have adjusted management practices over the last decade, resulting in an estimated 25 to 30 percent decrease in the import of nitrogen and phosphorus statewide, without a decrease in milk production.

With funding support from the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, Dr. Quirine M. Ketterings, director of the Nutrient Management Spear Program at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., leads the research and extension project that is using the whole-farm management approach to help farmers evaluate opportunities to reach optimal balance.

“We are working with farmers and farm advisors on whole farm nutrient mass balance assessments to help identify opportunities for better nutrient use and to document improvements over time, with the ultimate goal to be both economically viable and environmentally sustainable,” said Ketterings.

The whole-farm nutrient mass balance software tool allows farmers to compare the nutrient imports brought onto the farm in feed, fertilizer, animals and bedding with the amount of nutrients exported off the farm as milk, crops, animals, and manure. The difference is called the farm balance that can be presented as a plus or minus balance per acre of cropland or per hundredweight of milk produced.

Practices that help increase nutrient use efficiency include increasing on-farm forage production of higher quality forages; better distribution of manure on the farm’s land base; improving feedbunk management; adjusting feed rations to meet varying nutritional needs of calves, heifers, and milking cows; and other changes that result in better use of nutrients across the farm.

“A number of farms have shown tremendous progress in nutrient use efficiency over time by adjusting management practices that reduce imports such as feed and-or fertilizer, by better aligning crop and animal nutrient needs, and supplying nutrients only as needed to eliminate excesses and losses,” Ketterings said.

With grants from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program and other funders, Ketterings and her team have developed feasible mass balance ranges for New York dairy operations, based on actual balances from commercial dairy farms in New York. Farms operating outside the optimal operational zone most likely have opportunities to improve their nutrient use efficiency.

Farmers interested in learning more about whole-farm nutrient mass balance assessment will find information on the Nutrient Management Spear Program website at http://nmsp.cals.cornell.edu/NYOnFarmResearchPartnership/MassBalances.html. Farmers can download an input sheet to submit to Ketterings and her team for confidential review.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Senate and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

UPDATE 10/30/18:
Inquiry received: Can this work be applied to other types of farms?
Yes, while the software and feasible balance range is being developed for dairy farms where the main export is milk the approach applies to all farms.

Response from Dr. Quirine M. Ketterings: “The concept is equally valid for  sheep, goat, beef, and even crop farms; the nutrients-per-acre value that the software provides can be used directly, but the interpretations (to reach the optimal production zone, known as the “green box” in the software charting) need to be adjusted if something else than milk is your main export. For dairy farms we use N, P, and K per acre and per hundredweight milk produced. If you were to pursue this for beef farming or for poultry, you would still want to derive the N, P, K balance per acre, but then express the production indicator on pounds (lbs) of meat sold for beef or eggs produced for layer hens, etc.

Inquiry received: Is nutrient mass balancing being done elsewhere?
Farmers in other states and around the world are increasingly interested in the evaluation of whole farm nutrient balances as key performance indicators. Dr. Ketterings notes that similar nutrient mass balance approaches have been implemented in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, for example. Farmers in other states or countries are encouraged to check with local colleges’ agricultural or Extension programs or agricultural education organizations to learn about NMB opportunities in their area.

 

Northern N.Y.: September 25, 2018.  Data from the 2018 corn harvest on Northern New York farms will contribute to yield-based zone management for corn growers and evaluation of yield potentials for New York soil types statewide.

Zone-based management and yield mapping present the opportunity to better allocate resources to save on expense, time, and labor, and to reduce environmental loss of nutrients not taken up by the crop or soil.

Dr. Quirine M. Ketterings, Director of the Nutrient Management Spear Program at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., leads crop production enhancement research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program. Using data from four farms in NNY and eight other farms statewide, Ketterings and her team of collaborators are evaluating nitrogen management for farm-specific, field-specific yield stability zones.

“Farmer participation is essential to identifying yield limitations and developing strategies that make best use of resources like manure and fertilizer. Our goal is to find ways to improve yield and nutrient use and reduce the risk of nutrient loss to the environment at the same time,”Ketterings said.

A minimum of three years of data from yield monitors on harvesting equipment is needed since stability zones are farm-specific and field-specific and are based on farm average and variability over a period of three or more years. Yield data from all fields in the same year are used to determine farm yield averages and variability in yield over the three-or-more-year timeframe.

Yield stability zone mapping is evaluated to identify in which zones farm resources can be best allocated for the biggest return on investment. Zone-based allocation applies to the use of manure and fertilizer, seed density, crop variety, and other factors.

“With yield data of three or more years for a field, a map can be created with four zones. This mapping allows us to evaluate where to invest limited resources,” said Ketterings.

She notes the current focus of the zone mapping is on nitrogen management, but this zone-management approach can be expanded to other nutrients, manure application method and tillage decisions, variety selection, population densities, foliar applications, and other production considerations.

“The goal is to identify when and where we could expect a yield response, and to identify what we can do to elevate yields in the areas not yielding as much or very variable in yield over time,” Ketterings added.

Ketterings’ work on the use of yield monitor data included the development of a protocol for obtaining and cleaning corn harvest data collected by the yield monitor systems that are increasingly used on regional farms. The data cleaning process is as important as field calibration of the yield monitors.

This regional research funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is part of a statewide effort.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Senate and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

In addition to the coverage of the Juneberry “Superfruit” trials by Mountain Lakes PBS in Plattsburgh, NY, WCAX TV based in Burlington, VT, also reported on the research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program. Click here to see their coverage.

Find research updates on the trials under the Horticulture: Juneberries tab of this website.

 

 

Lowville, N.Y.; September 18, 2018.  The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) has posted its 2019 grant application, research ideas, and guidelines on the home page at www.nnyagdev.org. Applications must be submitted electronically to NNYADP Coordinator Michele Ledoux on or before October 29, 2018.

The farmer-driven program that serves Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties invites proposals for projects that focus on research, education and technical assistance to benefit the diverse agricultural production sectors in the six-county region.

The posted list of 138 potential research ideas was generated with input from regional farmers, growers, agribusiness professionals, and farm advisors. The list addresses challenges and opportunities associated with dairy, field crops, horticultural crops, livestock, local foods and maple production under the unique Northern New York micro-climates, soils, and growing conditions.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Senate and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. The 2018-2019 State Budget provides $600,000 for NNYADP projects in 2019.

Farmer-led review panels will submit prioritized projects to an Executive Committee for final selection for small grants. Project work is to be conducted on operating farms or agricultural research farm facilities in the Northern New York region from January 1 to December 31, 2019. For more information, contact Michele Ledoux at 315-376-5270, mel14@cornell.edu.

The results of completed NNYADP projects are posted on this website.

Northern N.Y.; September 17, 2018.  A handbook for improving soil health in both organic and conventional vegetable, row crop, and small grain systems is now available at no charge from Cornell Cooperative Extension and partners that made possible a popular field day event that served as the basis for the handbook development.

The Reduced Tillage Field Day Handbook is available free in the Horticulture: Vegetables section of this website.

“The field day was such a hit with the 70 people who attended and received the handbook that are making the information available on a broader basis to encourage interest in soil health practices that reduce tillage intensity and mechanical soil disturbance. Over time, this helps maintain or increase crop yields, while reducing production costs due to reduced labor, equipment wear, and fuel use,” said field day organizer Amy Ivy, a vegetable specialist with the CCE Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program.

Highlights and excerpts from the 107-handbook include:

• 2018-2019 New York Soil Health Priorities and Plans
• More than 60 percent of farmers who used reduced tillage or cover crops and responded to a New York Soil Health survey reported that flooding prevention, drought resilience, and less erosion resulted from those practices.
• Stacking tillage tools can save time for field preparation and reduce labor and fuel needs.
• Cultivation is typically most effective for improving weed management with small weeds in dry, loose soil.
• A project in Virginia is evaluating the potential for farmers to increase their use of cover crop rolling, which has been used successfully by individual farmers from Alabama to Pennsylvania but has yet to see widespread use in the U.S.
• High-residue conservation tillage systems involve using large amounts of cover crop residue to suppress weeds, reduce soil erosion and conserve soil moisture.

Although the event, held at the Willsboro Research Farm in Willsboro, N.Y., was targeted to meet organic growers’ expressed interest, the practices discussed in the handbook will also benefit conventional growers.

Materials are included from the field day presenters, including Bryan Brown of the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program on managing weeds in small-seeded crops; Ryan Maher of the Cornell Small Farms Program on zone tillage systems; and John Wallace, Cornell University Specialty Crop Systems, on weed seedbank management.

The resource materials in the handbook consider crimpers, rollers, the biology of soil compaction, understanding microbes and nutrient recycling, caring for soil as a living system, and the use of reduced tillage and cover crops for organic and conventional vegetable production. Other sections look at how to avoid roller crimper problems, winter-hardy cover cropping, using cover crops to convert to no-till and no-till management for organic systems.

The handbook includes information from a variety of sources including Iowa State University, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Ohio State University, Penn State Extension, Rodale Institute, Rutgers University, the Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education Program, and the Virginia Association for Biological Farming.

The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, New York Soil Health, and Lake Champlain Basin Program sponsored the Reduced Tillage summer field day event. The Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program, CCE Essex County and the Cornell University Willsboro Research Farm coordinated the field day programming.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Senate and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Learn more at www.nnyagdev.org.