Northern New York — The North Country Regional Economic Development Council, bioenergy generators, woody biomass and switchgrass crop producers and processors, trade associations, and universities will be celebrating the first-ever National Bioenergy Day October 17 with a harvesting demonstration, a host of programs at Clarkson University, and industry-only tours at three sites.

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Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) and the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program have announced two 2013 Northern New York Allium Schools – day-long programs to help garlic, onion, leek and shallot growers explore best management practices.

The CCE St. Lawrence County Learning Farm in Canton will host the 10am-2:30pm on Monday, October 21.

The program of speakers repeats 10am-2:30pm on Tuesday, October 22 at the Beekmantown Town Hall in West Chazy.

Read more about speakers and program focus.

Excessive rainfall made 2013 a challenging year to grow corn all across New York State, and chances are good that it affected your corn crop. NNY Regional Field Crops Educator Kitty O’Neil offers suggestions for evaluating your 2013 crop to help planning for your 2014 corn.
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Also see the Nitrogen Management section of this Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website for research results and production tips.

With support from the Northern NY Agricultural Development Program, a series of workshops in September and October will highlight research on maple sap production yields. Speakers will present evaluation of the use of different spouts and droplines.

Workshop leader Northern New York Maple Specialist Michael Farrell says, “These workshops offer maple producers the opportunity to learn about the developments and experimentation in recent years to determine what type of spout will produce the greatest amount of sap.”

Read more about workshops set for September 20: Lake Placid, September 21: Croghan, October 1: Canton, October 3: Malone, October 5: West Chazy. Click here

To help the Northern New York apple industry with a farm gate value of $16 million, the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is funding orchard improvement research and grower education focused on improving fruit quality through systems management, precision orchard thinning, and precision irrigation techniques.

Apple grower Tom Everett says:
“Dr. (Terrence) Robinson has had trials comparing four different growing systems in our orchards since 2002. His research work has been the clearest indicator of what types of systems work best for our operation. He has calculated the best return on investment for the different systems and that has helped us and all the growers in the region.”

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