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.

Willsboro, NY; April 16, 2018:  Growers who are first to market with peppers, tomatoes, and other fresh market vegetables have a distinct advantage. Earlier spring crops, double yields, and the potential for $1390 in added net revenue are among the results noted in the 2017 vegetable production research report posted at www.nnyagdev.org by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program.

A 2017 Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-funded research project led by Cornell Cooperative Extension vegetable specialist Amy Ivy evaluated the time, labor, yield, and income opportunity associated with growing red peppers, cherry tomatoes, and spinach under the growing conditions unique to Northern New York.

Peppers, including new varieties said to be extra-productive, grown inside a high tunnel at the Willsboro Research Farm in Willsboro, NY, averaged 4.98 lbs/plant with first harvest on August 23, extending through November 3. By comparison, field-grown peppers averaged 2.19 lbs/plant with first harvest on September 9 and last harvest before a killing frost on October 17.

In the pepper variety comparison within an unheated high tunnel, one variety yielded earlier in the spring and tapered off, the other yielded later and slightly higher but at a time when market demand was less.

In a comparison of pepper pruning and training systems, one system took less time and yielded a 1.5 lbs-more-per-plant average.

“The peppers clearly benefitted from the protection of a high tunnel, with more than double the production and a significantly earlier first harvest. Harvest timing is an important factor for peak sales and profitability in Northern New York,” Ivy noted.

The NNYADP-funded cherry tomato trial compared three systems for training and pruning cherry tomatoes, known for rampant growth, the managing of which can drain grower efficiency.

“Because labor is the largest expense on most vegetable farms, increasing our understanding of practices that can add production and harvesting efficiency is critical. These trials funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program do that for our regional growers,” Ivy said.

The cherry tomato trial data showed the labor commitment varied by system; for example, for harvesting from 34.8 lbs/hr to 45.1 lbs/hr. Tomato yield by system ranged from 11.3 lbs plant to 15.8 lbs/plant. Average net revenue by system ranged from $39.27 per plant to $55.31 per plant.

“Our calculations determined the system providing the greatest benefits as measured by labor efficiency, yield, and net revenue was a double leader system. A high tunnel with 200 cherry tomato plants could see a possible gain of $1390 in net profit using this system compared to the less intensive multi-leader system,” Ivy noted.

The results of an evaluation of the availability of nitrogen from various sources in cold soils to support winter spinach production will be posted later this spring.

This research supports the increasing demand for fresh market vegetables in Northern New York as evidenced by a new Produce Auction in Franklin County, a food hub project in Jefferson County, and the addition of high tunnels on farms regionwide.

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-funded vegetable research in 2018 includes the high tunnel production of red peppers, green beans, self-fertile zucchini, and winter spinach.

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 in research reports posted on this website.

Cherry Tomato Pruning and Training: High Tunnel Best Management Practices Fact Sheet, 2018

Northern NY; April 10, 2018.   The 2018-19 New York State Budget includes $600,000 for the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program that prioritizes research and technical assistance to benefit the dairy, livestock, field crops, fruit, vegetables, maple and honey production industries in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties.

Nearly 100 farmers from across the six-county region participate in identifying projects and targeting funding to address uniquely Northern New York challenges, and to maintain and grow the regional agricultural economy at the farm level and industrywide.

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 work done by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is critically important to our farmers’ bottom lines and its research helps to strengthen key sectors of New York’s leading industry, including maple, dairy, and others, that are important to our region,” said Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Senator Patty Ritchie. “I was proud to advocate for this important funding and look forward to seeing how it strengthens our agriculture industry as a whole.”

NYS Senator Betty Little noted, “The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program makes efficient use of its state funding to address the critical needs of the diverse farming sectors and the North Country farmers that are essential economic drivers in our regional communities.”

“Without the hard work and perseverance of the state’s farmers, New York would not be the agricultural engine that it is today,” added NYS Senator Joseph Griffo. “This funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program will help continue the important research for and provide assistance to farmers throughout the state to ensure that they continue to thrive for many more generations to come.”

Recent projects have addressed Northern New York microclimate impact and shorter growing season, as well as the potential to grow into a regional maple production capacity of $10 million per year, and the use of high tunnels for year-round fruit and vegetable production.

The January 2018 Northern New York Agricultural Development Program report highlights projects that focused on helping dairy cows and calves adjust to localized hot and cold climate extremes, applying tile drainage to improve field crop production and stewardship, advancing maple production, developing new opportunities for fruit and vegetable growers, and the results of the first-ever Northern New York bee health survey. Project results are posted  on this website.

Northern N.Y.; March 26, 2018. Late winter and early spring are the primary times when brown root rot, also known as snow mold, may be damaging Northern New York alfalfa, a highly valued forage crop for dairy cows and other livestock. With funding from the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, Cornell University researchers are evaluating opportunities to develop alfalfa that is both adapted to the colder Northern New York climate and able to resist brown root rot (BRR).

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has recently posted the results of a three-year study by Cornell University researchers developing alfalfa populations after exposure to the brown root rot fungus and ice sheeting at www.nnyagdev.org.

The parasitic fungal plant pathogen Phoma sclerotioides is the causal agent of brown root rot that damages the roots and crowns of alfalfa plants, other perennial legumes, and overwintering grasses.

“The plants that survive the winter of 2017-18 in a field with high brown root rot pressure in Northern New York will be excellent candidates for new cultivar development through successive plant breeding,” said project leader Julie L. Hansen, a plant breeding and genetics specialist at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

Northern New York field trials funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program have shown that brown root rot-resistant alfalfa varieties grown in Saskatchewan and Wyoming perform poorly under the Northern New York climate and growing conditions.

Brown root rot was first detected on alfalfa in the eastern United States in 2003 in Northern New York in Clinton County. It has also been found in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania, and Ontario, Canada, with reports of alfalfa yield loss, winterkill, slow spring emergence from dormancy, and stand decline over time.

The work to identify cultivars that have the best opportunity to grow under Northern New York regional conditions has new funding from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program for research in 2018.

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. Project results and a fact sheet are posted are this website under Crops: Crop Disease: Brown Root Rot.

NNY Corn Grain Evaluation Helps Farmers Select Seed, Feed Cows, Sell to Ethanol Producers

Northern N.Y. The evaluation of 103 commercial corn hybrids in trials funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is now posted at www.nnyagdev.org. The trials under localized growing conditions help farmers select the corn hybrids best suited to their soils, agronomic practices, and needs, including use of the corn in a dairy cow diet and for production for sale to ethanol producers.

“Over the past 20 years, corn acres harvested as grain in the six-county Northern New York region have doubled, reflecting availability of hybrids with good yield and adaptation in this shorter-season area. Highly productive grain hybrids that perform in Northern New York allow farmers there to take advantage of corn grain and ethanol markets,” said project leader Dr. Margaret E. Smith, a plant breeding and genetics professor at Cornell University Smith.

Project collaborator Joe Lawrence, a dairy forage specialist with the Cornell University PRO-DAIRY program, “A focus by the seed industry on silage-specific corns has increased the need for independent evaluation of the corns’ traits, particularly to determine their merit in a dairy feeding program.”

Cornell PRO-DAIRY Director Thomas Overton notes, “We use the data from the Northern New York corn hybrid trials, and those conducted elsewhere in New York State, to evaluate how those hybrids will interact in a lactating cow feed ration and how that ration may influence expected cow performance and milk production.”

The 2017 hybrid evaluation trials, planted at the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm in Essex County, W. H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Clinton County, and Greenwood Farm in St. Lawrence County, evaluated 103 hybrids ranging from 80-day to 110-day maturity corns.

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program project report notes that data on yield-to-moisture ratio comprises one of the best guides for selecting hybrids with excellent grain yield and appropriate maturity for Northern New York growing conditions. Grain yield is an important contributor to silage yield and quality and a consideration for farmers interested in selling their corn grain for feed or ethanol production

For silage, collaboration by hybrid evaluation projects across the Northeast, including the trials in Northern New York, continue to focus on key quality parameters’ related to fiber and starch digestibility.

Smith cautions that farmers should select hybrids based on multi-year and multi-location data whenever possible.

“Any hybrid can have a banner year or banner environment, but not necessarily hold up over different locations and growing seasons. Selections are best judged with several years of data under the regionalized growing conditions and the knowledge of one’s own soils, climate, and farm environment,” says Smith.

Multi-year corn hybrid evaluation data are available in the Cornell Guide for Integrated Field Crop Management. For assistance, contact Cornell Cooperative Extension NNY Field Crops Specialists Mike Hunter, 315-788-8602, or Kitty O’Neil, 315-854-1218.

Farmers in Northern New York have harvested an average of 145,000 acres of corn annually for grain and silage over the past four years.

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.

Links to 2017 Corn Hybrids report and tables

Links to multiple years of NNY Corn Grain and Corn Silage trials data