A biocontrol treatment developed to help Northern New York alfalfa growers is now showing early promise of proving useful to New York apple growers.

Early field trials in four NY orchard plantings have shown a reduction of 70 to 97 percent, compared with untreated plantings, in the populations of plum curculio, a key pest of eastern U.S. apple crops.

With long-term funding from the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, Cornell University entomologist Elson Shields developed a biocontrol protocol for using a combination of native New York nematodes to reduce alfalfa snout beetle populations in NNY alfalfa crops.

Shields and Cornell colleague Art Agnello are now applying nematodes to control plum curculio in organic-production apple plantings.

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Note: The NNYADP has three new on-farm demonstration projects on dairy farms in Northern New York showing the value of using the nematodes to reduce alfalfa snout beetle/ASB populations. Those farms are in the North Bangor/Malone area in Franklin County, at Brier Hill in St. Lawrence County, and in Turin/Lewis County.

The NNYADP is also funding the selective breeding of alfalfa snout beetle-resistant varieties of alfalfa to give farmers a one-two punch for managing ASB.

CCE Jefferson-Lewis Field Crops Specialist Mike Hunter asks the question: Do you have Alfalfa Snout Beetles on your farm? in the October 2014 issue of the CCE newsletters for Jefferson and Lewis counties.

He notes “Every year we discover new infestations of alfalfa snout beetles on farms.”

The NNYADP funded long-term research that is helping farmers use a cost-effective combination of biocontrol nematodes and ASB-resistant alfalfa varieties to control the highly destructive pest.

Click here to learn more about identifying and managing ASB on your farm.

Canker on stem, and inter-veinal discoloration of leaves above the canker caused by northern stem canker. Photo: Jaime Cummings/Cornell University.

Click here to see the WWNY TV 7 report by Asa Stackel on this story

As part of the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-funded Creating a NNY Corn and Soybean Disease Diagnosis and Assessment Database project, Cornell Cooperative Extension Field Crops Specialists Mike Hunter and Kitty O’Neil scouted soybean fields in the region. The following article, which appears in the current What’s Cropping Up? newsletter from Cornell University, shares details on the discovery of this crop disease in New York state.

 

Northern Stem Canker: A New Challenge for New York Soybean Producers
by Jaime A. Cummings and Gary C. Bergstrom
Cornell University School of Integrative Plant Science, Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section

As part of 2014 research projects supported by the New York Soybean Check-off Program and the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, participating Cornell Cooperative Extension/CCE Educators have been scouting soybean production fields, recording observations on diseases, and sending plant samples to the Field Crop Pathology Laboratory at Cornell University for positive diagnosis of disease problems. A serious disease called ‘northern stem canker’ was confirmed for the first time in New York soybean fields. It showed up in samples from soybean fields in Jefferson, Livingston, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, and Wayne Counties collected by CCE Educators Mike Hunter, Mike Stanyard and Bill Verbeten.

The disease was diagnosed at Cornell based on characteristic symptoms and the laboratory isolation of the causal fungus and confirmation of a portion of its DNA sequence.

Soybeans are also being scouted in other areas of New York in 2014, but so far this disease has not been detected outside of the seven counties mentioned above.

Northern stem canker (NSC) is caused by the fungus Diaporthe phaseolorum var. caulivora and differs from a related fungus, Diaporthe phaseolorum var. meridionalis, that causes southern stem canker throughout the southern U.S. NSC occurs in most Midwestern states and in Ontario, but this is, to our knowledge, the first confirmation in New York or the northeastern U.S. Reported yield losses in the Midwest have ranged from minor to in excess of 50%, so the presence of the pathogen is considered a significant factor for soybean production.

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Click here for NNYADP press release

 

The Northern NY Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) is pleased to announce its small grants program for 2014-2015.

Funds from this program will support projects that focus on research, education, and technical assistance in support of the agricultural production sectors in the six-county NNY region: Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, Jefferson, St. Lawrence, counties. Eligible projects must focus activities at the Cornell E.V. Baker Research Farm in Willsboro, the W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, and/or other operating farms across the NNY region.

Click here for Request for Proposals Guidelines

Click here for Application

To receive a list of suggested projects, call Michele Ledoux, the Cornell contact for the NNYADP, at 315-376-5270 or NNYADP Publicist Kara Lynn Dunn at 315-465-7578.

October 17, 9;30am-4pm, Keeseville
Silvopasture Field Day
Mace Chasm Farm, 810 Mace Chasm Rd., Keeseville NY. RSVP to SWCD@ 518-962-8225; cost $15. Must prepay by Oct. 15 in office or via paypal @https://pub.cce.cornell.edu/event_registration/main/events.cfm?dept=215, includes lunch

Rain or shine in silvopasture settings, so please dress for the weather. Graziers, foresters, agency personnel are especially encouraged to attend. 5.0 Category 1 CEU credits pending for Certified Foresters. 2 Crop Management CEU credits & 1 Soil & Water Management credit for CCA’s. Speakers: Peter Smallidge of CCE, Brett Chedzoy of CCE and Joe Orefice with Paul Smith’s College. Sponsored by: Essex County Soil & Water Conservation District, Lake Champlain Basin Program, New York Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI), and Greater Adirondack RC&D.

Agenda:
An Introduction to Silvopasturing and Goals for the Day (9:30)
Site Selection and Assessment (10:00)
• Evaluating site quality, terrain, access, water and timber resources
• Identifying potential hazards and limiting factors

Planning (11:00)
• Silvopasture Economics 101 and the importance of start-up plans
• Criteria for determining the cost/benefit ratio of a project
• Doing a reality-check and thinking things through

Lunch and Networking (12:00)

Implementation In the context of Silvopastures (1:00)
• Management of tree and shrubs
• Management of forages
• Management of livestock
• Putting it all together in a symbiotic and sustainable system

Wrap-up and Adjourn (4:00)