Northern NY. The spring harvest of alfalfa-grass mixes may account for up to half of the total forage yield of those crops for dairy farmers. The results of alfalfa-grass research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program may suggest a new option for dairy farmers looking to enhance forage production. The report is posted on this NNYADP website under Field Crops: Alfalfa (see link below).

Cornell University Animal Sciences Professor Debbie J.R. Cherney, who led the research conducted on dairy farms in Northern New York, notes, “It is clear from this research that switching the grass species to meadow fescue in mixtures may have more impact on forage quality than switching alfalfa varieties.”

Furthermore, Cherney notes that the combination of reduced-lignin alfalfa planted with meadow fescue, a winter-hardy grass species, can result in a large increase in neutral detergent fiber digestibility, a measure of the expected energy value that the forage will deliver to dairy cows. Higher digestibility value contributes to cow health and milk production.

Forage quality of both grass and alfalfa can be improved by well-informed variety selection. The field trials at two farms in Jefferson County and one farm in Lewis County in 2016 and 2017 provided researchers, Extension field crop specialists, and farmers the opportunity to learn how new varieties of grass and alfalfa seed released by the seed industry will perform under Northern New York soils and climate.

The trials also evaluated a meadow fescue variety developed by the USDA with reportedly higher digestibility than other meadow fescues.

The plantings and evaluations conducted at the NNY farms produced data on yield and the quality of the alfalfa and of the grass grown in various mixes. The alfalfa and grass were analyzed separately for crude protein, fiber, digestibility and lignin values.

With a 2018 grant from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, the Cornell team will evaluate an alfalfa-grass mixed seeding with timothy established in 2017 in Lewis County, along with seven grasses and three alfalfa varieties there.

The regional research in 2018 will also include testing meadow fescue at several seeding rates in plantings with alfalfa, and the addition of a new variety of meadow fescue that looked very promising in 2017.

Throughout the 2018 spring season, Cornell Cooperative Extension provides weekly updates to alert Northern New York farmers for optimal harvest timing for the first cutting of their alfalfa-grass forage crops. Fiber digestibility declines more than one percentage unit per day in spring growth making optimal harvesting of alfalfa-grass crops a key component of good production management.

Funding for the farmer-driven 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.

Click here to read the full report

Willsboro, NY; May 18, 2018.  The Juneberries are in blossom in the research nursery at the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm in Willsboro, NY. Juneberry, scientifically known as Amelanchier, is an antioxidant superfruit, with the potential to be a major fruit crop for growers in the Northeast.

The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program provided funding in 2013 to begin establishing the first Juneberry research nursery in NY state.

Project leaders Michael B. Burgess, a botanist with the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, and Michael H. Davis, manager of the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm, wild-collected cultivars from multiple states in 2013-2014. The cuttings were established in the greenhouse-laboratory at SUNY Plattsburgh and transplanted to the research farm. The nursery also includes commercial varieties of the fruit known as Saskatoon berry in Canada.

The research being conducted at the Willsboro farm is developing knowledge and best practices to help regional growers successfully establish a Juneberry crop, and understand optimal flowering season, fruit set, pest and disease susceptibility, and individual cultivar hardiness under Northern New York growing conditions.

The research crew at the farm has also done some unofficial taste testing and reports that some of the cultivars have incredible flavor.

This Juneberry research is part of a larger Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-funded project that is evaluating new fruit crops for commercial production by NNY growers. More information is posted in the Horticulture section of this website; also see link below.

On-Farm Trials Added in 2017, 2018
In 2017, in addition to a portion of the living Juneberry collection at the Willsboro farm moving to a new field location adjacent to the variety evaluation trials, Juneberry plantings were established with 44 plants on a farm in Essex County, 20 plants on a farm in Jefferson County. In 2018, one farm each in Franklin County and St. Lawrence County will add plants for grower evaluation.

Funding for the farmer-driven 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.

MORE INFO: https://www.nnyagdev.org/index.php/horticulture/juneberries-in-nny/

Chazy-Peru, NY. Northern New York growers can apple pest identification research to good use this spring as they scout their orchards for troublesome insects.

Grants from the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) funded collaboration by Cornell University faculty and laboratory personnel and Cornell Cooperative Extension educators to scout regional orchards, identify apple pests, and enter real-time data into computer models to help growers more precisely target their orchard applications.

Additionally, this project included orchard-based demonstrations that revitalized grower interest in integrated pest management.

In 2015, 2016, and 2017, trap catch data from the Northern New York scouting missions was sent weekly through Eastern New York Commercial Horticultural Program e-alerts to growers on the activity of key pests at commercial apple orchards in Chazy and Peru, NY. Growers received season-specific information to guide their response to pests such as oriental fruit moth, codling moth, and obliquebanded leafrollers.

In 2017, the research team used the infrastructure put in place by the project the year before to help growers stay alert to fire blight that occurred at an unprecedented epidemic level in the Champlain Valley in 2016. Very few new infections were reported in 2017, and of those reported several were identified as false alarms. In orchards where it was present, growers effectively managed the bacterial disease that destroys apple blossoms, shoots, and, sometimes, entire trees.

Researchers are compiling a Northern New York apple pest database to document pest trends over time.

Recent apple research reports are posted under the Horticulture tab on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website at www.nnyagdev.org. The 2017 key pests report is posted here.

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 results of past projects funded through the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program are posted on this website.

 

NNYADP-Funded Research Shows How to Boost Spring Hay Harvest in Northern NY

Northern N.Y.; May 7, 2018.  Opportunities to boost spring hay crop silage yield and quality were evaluated in research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program. The results of regional on-farm trials with winter rye and triticale in 2016 and 2017 by the W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, NY, are now posted in the Field Crops section at www.nnyagdev.org.

Winter forage crops contribute to soil conservation and can improve soil quality when following a corn silage crop.

“Our evaluation showed that winter rye and triticale can be established as winter forage crops planted in a field after corn silage harvest in Northern New York with economical yields and high quality for harvest as hay crop silage, and these winter forages can be successfully double cropped with corn silage, giving farmers another crop production risk management strategy,” said project leader and Miner Institute Research Agronomist Eric Young.

Triticale was successfully established using no-till methods after termination of an alfalfa-grass field. Future research will help determine the best methods for winter forage crop establishment across varying soil conditions.

Growing winter forage crops for spring harvest as hay for dairy cows and livestock is becoming increasingly popular, but weather can challenge yield and successful retention of crop nutrients.

A complete report, including evaluation of the winter forage crops for dry matter yield, crude protein, water soluble carbohydrates, fiber digestibility, and phosphorus, potassium and lignin content, is posted on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website.

Funding for the farmer-driven 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.

 

Farm Labor to Fireblight: 24 NNYADP-Funded Research Projects Underway in 2018

Northern NY: April 26, 2018.  How labor issues impact Northern New York dairy farms is the focus of one of 24 research projects receiving grant funding through the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program and underway to help regional farmers weather climate extremes and economic challenges, capitalize on growth opportunities, and enhance land and water stewardship. The complete list of funded projects is posted under the About heading at www.nnyagdev.org.

The farm labor evaluation is one of four dairy-focused projects with Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) funding in 2018; the other three are evaluating opportunities to increase milking parlor efficiency, enhance calf health, and help milking cows adjust to hot weather conditions.

Thirteen projects receiving NNYADP grants are designed to benefit field crop production, including through the use of yield monitoring technology to more accurately project corn yield potential and through the commercial-scale farm application of Cornell Soil Health assessment testing.

Researchers supported by Cornell Cooperative Extension field crop specialists in cooperation with local on-farm trial hosts are investigating best management practices that will help regional farmers enhance production, yield and quality gain, pest management, and disease prevention in corn, alfalfa, grass and soybean crops.

One of the 2018 NNYADP-funded projects will add data to a Northeastern U.S. research collaboration focused on enhancing water quality protection. Project leader Dr. Quirine M. Ketterings of the Cornell University Nutrient Management Spear Program is part of a collaboration that is developing new Phosphorus Indexes for seven states. The index helps guide best management practices for manure and purchased nutrient application. Ketterings has credited Northern New York farmers and crop advisers for prompting the updating of a similar resource for nitrogen application guidelines for NY.

Two additional NNYADP-funded agricultural stewardship research projects are focused on the opportunity of tile drainage to improve both crop production and environmental conservation.

With a new NNYADP grant for research in 2018-19, Cornell Maple Program specialists are measuring how the timing of tapping schedules by NNY maple producers impacts maple and birch sap yields.

Northern New York fruit and vegetable growers are participating in projects centered on high tunnel season-extension production, opportunities for new fruit crops that can tolerate localized growing conditions, protecting apple crops from fire blight, and the use of thinning in apple orchards to optimize profitability.

“As a farmer-driven program with producers from all the agricultural sectors that brace the Northern New York economy, the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is able to directly respond to farm-level and industry-level needs and opportunities,” said NNYADP Co-Chair Jon Greenwood, St. Lawrence County.

“The research done in Northern New York has developed groundbreaking solutions that are having far-reaching impact for the entire agricultural industry,” added NNYADP Co-Chair Joe Giroux, Clinton County.

“The localized on-farm research provides insights that apply directly to the challenges we face as Northern New York farmers and help us customize the best science based on our microclimates, soils, and farming practices to sustain and strengthen our agricultural economy,” noted NNYADP Co-Chair, Jon Rulfs, Clinton County.

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 results of past projects funded through the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program are posted on this website.