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.

Willsboro, N.Y.: September 12, 2018. Seeing is believing and regional vegetable growers attending the Thursday, October 11, 2018 Field Meeting at the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm in Willsboro, N.Y. will see a variety of cover crop options and discuss their use in vegetable crop rotations.

The Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program is sponsoring the 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. field meeting. There is no cost to attend, however, registration is requested online at https://enych.cce.cornell.edu/event.php?id=1002. For more information, contact Amy Ivy at adi2@cornell.edu, 518-570-5991.

Growers will tour the field trials with Cornell Willsboro Research Farm Manager Michael Davis, and Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program Vegetable Specialists Chuck Bornt and Amy Ivy to learn how the use of cover crops following early season vegetable crops can help restore soil health that is depleted over years of annual crops on the same ground.

“Growers, particularly those with smaller acreage, can struggle to find space and the justification to take fields out of production just to plant cover crops, but the use of cover crops is well known as a way to address a variety of soil health and productivity issues. This field meeting will allow growers to see it to believe it,” Ivy noted.

 

The trials are part of the 2018 Advancing Vegetable Production in Northern New York project funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program.

The field demonstration plots also showcase new multiple species cover crop mixes that growers have been reluctant to invest in due to cost and, in some cases, establishment requirements.

“One of the benefits of these research trials is enabling growers to see first-hand how the newer cover crop mixes are working in a test field before they commit precious dollars to try them on their own land,” Ivy noted.

The presenters will address crop selection, establishment, and timing with the example of the same crops of millet, oats, hairy vetch and daikon radish alone and in combinations planted on two different soils on two different dates in August.

The 2018 Advancing Vegetable Production in Northern New York project also includes research on nitrogen uptake in winter-grown spinach and opportunities for early harvest of popular summer high tunnel-grown vegetable crops.

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.

Northern N.Y., September 4, 2018. With the progress of precision orchard management research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP), regional apple growers are increasingly targeting key production practices to harvest larger, higher quality apples for market. Income per acre is influenced by fruit size and quality.

Three growers in northeastern New York are providing data to help Cornell University horticultural researchers refine computer modeling designed to more precisely apply orchard irrigation and thinning practices.

The on-farm orchard trials at the Northern New York orchards have evaluated water management. The Cornell team estimates that in some seasons a lack of irrigation can lead to small fruit and an economic loss of $3,850 to $6,809 per 2.5 acres of orchard, depending on the density of the trees. Losses can be higher for late-season varieties that require a longer growing season.

A proper water supply that limits or eliminates drought stress on trees is essential to maximum apple size at any given crop load. Growers can improve orchards yields by following computer modeling to precisely irrigate their crop on a weekly basis.

The on-farm trials use computer modeling to guide precisely when growers need to thin tree buds to reach desired crop load.

For each variety of apple, each individual orchard, and each grower, there is an optimum number of fruits per tree to achieve the best yield and desired fruit size and quality to bring the highest economic return.

In recent years, the focus of the regional trials has been on production of the popular Honeycrisp and Gala apples.

More precisely targeting thinning spray applications can reduce orchard costs and can enhance the use of pollinator-friendly treatments.

To encourage fruit size and quality, the modeling also directs pruning by hand to reduce competition among flowers and fruitlets.

The three Northern New York growers participating in the NNYADP-funded research are among 20 farmers contributing to a statewide project developing recommendations for precision orchard management practices. Components of the modeling have been developed at Cornell University and the University of Massachusetts.

The NNYADP provided new funding to continue the research in 2018. The fall harvest data will add more data to help refine modeling accuracy and sensitivity, particularly to extreme weather conditions that can include sudden drops in temperature, extended cold or rainy seasons, hail and other challenges that can damage apple crops.

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. For more information, see the Horticultural Research section of this website.

August 28, 2018; from CCE Essex News Bulletin:

The Reduced Tillage in Organic Systems Field Day event held on July 31st was a hit! We had 6 stations and about 70 attendees rotating among each, where a roller-crimper, a zone tiller, and weed management machinery were demonstrated among a variety of discussion topics related to incorporating reduced tillage management into crop production.

Check out the resource booklet that covers some of the topics and also incorporates related information here: Reduced Tillage Field Day Handbook (requires Acrobat Reader 9 or higher; alternate link:
https://rvpadmin.cce.cornell.edu/uploads/doc_699.pdf

This day was a collaboration of the Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture CCE team, Willsboro Research Farm, North Country Regional Ag CCE team, CCE Essex, Cornell Small Farms program, NYS IPM program, University of Vermont, and Champlain Basin Program. Expert guest speakers included Jean-Paul Cortens of Roxbury Farm and Jack Lazor of Butterworks Farm.

Thank you to the NY Soil Health program, Champlain Basin Program and the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program for your support. Great job, Amy Ivy, for pulling it all together!

Previously reported on this website:
The overall focus of the day (free to attend) on improving soil health was developed to meet grower requests. While the event is geared toward organic vegetable, row crop, and small grain growers, the practices discussed will also benefit conventional growers.

“Decreasing soil disturbance maintains diverse and active biological activity that is critical for well-functioning, healthy soil. Reducing tillage intensity and mechanical soil disturbance can improve soil health. Over time, this helps maintain or increase crop yields, while reducing production costs due to saved labor, equipment wear, and fuel,” notes organizer Amy Ivy, a vegetable specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension, Clinton County.

The field day topics include roller-crimping, zone tillage in high residue, in-row cultivation tools, stale seedbed and weed seed bank management strategies and grower experiences with reduced tillage on their farms.

The field day speakers are Jean-Paul Courtens, Roxbury Farm, Kinderhook, NY; University of Vermont Agronomist Heather Darby; Cornell Willsboro Research Farm Manager Mike Davis; Jack Lazor, Butterwork Farm, Westfield, VT; Chuck Bornt, Cornell Cooperative Extension Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program; Bryan Brown and Ryan Maher, Cornell Small Farms Program; Kitty O’Neil, Cornell Cooperative Extension North Country Regional Ag Team; and Cornell University Weed Ecology and Management Professor John Wallace.

Participants at the day-long event will rotate between three demonstration and discussion stations in the morning and three in the afternoon. Lunch is included. The first 50 attendees will receive a program resource booklet.

The Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Essex County and the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm coordinated this field day with funding support from the New York State Soil Health Initiative, Lake Champlain Basin Program, and the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program.

For more information, contact Amy Ivy, Cornell Cooperative Extension Clinton County, 518-561-7450, adi2@cornell.edu.

 

Thank you, Mountain Lake PBS! Click on dated link to see the segment.

Plattsburgh, NY; August 27, 2018. In a Friday, June 24, 2018 broadcast, PBS television affiliate Mountain Lake PBS in Plattsburgh, NY, featured a first-of-its-kind research site, made possible with funding from the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, in Willsboro, NY.

The weekly news magazine program, Mountain Lake Journal highlighted the first Juneberry research nursery in New York State and one of the largest living collections of Amelanchier in the U.S.

Amelanchier is the scientific name for Juneberry, considered a “super fruit” for its antioxidant value.

A grant from the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) providing research and technical assistance to farms in the six northernmost counties of New York State provided the funds that created the Juneberry nursery at the Willsboro Research Farm. The farm is a Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station.

“The farmers who review grant requests to the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program put value on the potential of Juneberry to become a significant new fruit crop for regional growers,” says NNYADP Co-Chair Jon Rulfs.

Mountain Lake PBS Senior Producer Thom Hallock says, “We wanted to feature this research and the Willsboro Farm Juneberry nursery to give our viewers a look into the fascinating work that is going on to develop several varieties of Juneberries for commercial scale production that may, in the not-too-distant future, be available for farmers markets across New York State.”

Viewers heard about the Juneberry research from project leaders Dr. Michael Burgess a botanist and assistant professor of biology at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, and Willsboro Farm Manager Michael H. Davis, Ph.D.

To start the project, Burgess and Davis collected cultivars of wild Juneberry growing in multiple states in 2013 and 2014. Burgess grew the cuttings out in his greenhouse laboratory at SUNY Plattsburgh for transplant to the new nursery site at Willsboro. The nursery also includes commercially-available varieties of Juneberry.

Farms in the Northern NY region have begun adding on-farm Juneberry plantings.

The Associated Press and such publications as Fruit Growers News, Nursery Management, Producer Grower, and the international Horti-Daily have reported on the progress of this Northern New York-based Juneberry research.

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

More information is posted on this website under the Horticulture tab.

Mountain Lake PBS has been the public media station for the Adirondacks and Champlain Valley region for more than 40 years. Its reach includes audiences in New York, Vermont, and Quebec and Ontario, Canada. Mountain Lake Journal airs on Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 7 pm, Sunday at 10 am, and on all the Mountain Lake PBS social media platforms. Learn more at www.mountainlake.org.