Lake Placid, N.Y.; March 4, 2022.  The latest results of maple research from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) may suggest a possible advantage of using quarter-inch tubing for sap collection vs. the current maple industry standard. The research is detailed in the “Alternative Maple Tubing That Prevents Clogging and Increases Sap Production” report posted under the Research: Maple tab at https://www.nnyagdev.org.

Maple research commissioned by the farmer-driven NNYADP has prompted the growth of the northern New York maple industry from $3.25 million in 2008, according to a Cornell University survey, to more than $12 million in 2019, with potential to reach a $15 million annual valuation. , which pilot tests the use of quarter-inch tubing to prevent clogging in sap collection lines was funded by the farmer-driven NNYADP and conducted at the Uihlein Maple Research Forest in Lake Placid, New York.

Although the early results of pilot testing of the use of quarter-inch tubing to prevent clogging in sap collection lines in 2020 and 2021 are promising, NNYADP maple project leader and Uihlein Maple Research Forest Director Adam D. Wild urges producers to be patient for more conclusive data.

“We don’t want to rush into promoting quarter-inch tubing until we are confident that plugging will not be an issue,” said Wild, who is monitoring the use of the quarter-inch tubing in gravity and vacuum sap collection systems during the 2022 maple season. Similar monitoring will be conducted again in 2023 before any conclusions can be drawn about use of the quarter-inch tubing.

Wild designed trials to address a clogging issue that producers have seen since a popular shift about 10 years ago to the use of three-sixteenths diameter tubing. Recent research has shown that sap production in a three-sixteenths tubing system drops off, due to plugging, as soon as the second year after installation.

The NNYADP trials compare sap production from quarter-inch tubing with three-sixteenths and five-sixteenths tubing as well as the ease of flow through the three sizes over multiple seasons. The larger opening in the quarter-inch line and fixtures are anticipated to make clogging less likely over time.

Quarter-inch diameter tubing, with almost twice the aperture of the three-sixteenths tubing that became popular with maple producers about ten years ago, is not currently available to maple producers. Wild adapted quarter-inch tubing used by other industries for use in these NNYADP research trials at Uihlein.

“We need to see the data to confirm our anticipation that plugging with not be an issue with the quarter-inch tubing. Over time, we would expect quarter-inch tubing would produce higher sap yields than three-sixteenths tubing and would be an alternative tubing option for producers using gravity-driven sap collection systems. The data from these Northern New York trials will tell us if that can be the case,” Wild said.

Wild has presented the results of this research to maple producers and extension educators across New York State and to the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association.

His advice to maple producers currently using three-sixteenths tubing is to follow best hygiene practices for maintaining sap flow through the narrower lines and fixtures.

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

Canton, New York; February 25, 2022.  Dairy worker e-learning pilot project research funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) and conducted by Quality Milk Production Services (QMPS) shows a quantifiable gain in employee knowledge and associated implementation of best practices in the milking parlor. 244 dairy workers across 22 dairy farms in Northern New York have participated in this research since its inception in 2019. The NNYADP “E-Learning Training Systems as an Educational Approach for Dairy Workers” project reports for Phase I, II and III are posted at www.nnyagdev.org.

“The design, development, and on-farm testing of this web-based training system for dairy employees have produced objective data that demonstrates that the participating employees have comprehended the information presented and accordingly changed how they perform in the milking parlor and follow cow care procedures that help to ensure animal health and milk quality,” said project leader Paul D. Virkler, D.V.M., a veterinarian with Cornell Quality Milk Production Services, Canton, New York.

Focused on the most critical risk factors for mastitis, Virkler and his team created e-learning training modules addressing the highest priority areas related to milking parlor responsibilities, milking equipment operations, and dairy cow health.

In Phase III in 2021 participating dairy workers were assessed pre-training to identify their level of knowledge of how to properly perform the dry-off procedure as the cow transitions to not being milked for two months prior to having her calf. Virkler noted, “The pre-training assessment of dairy worker knowledge that provided a starting point for our module development also provides a guide for other dairy farms considering ways to improve their dry-off procedure.”

Phase III module sections address tasks such as administering teat sealants, collecting aseptic milk samples, intrammammary treatment, and determining saleable milk.

The NNYADP Phase III dairy e-learning project report is believed to be the first publication showing a pre-training quantification of educational need by dairy workers as related to the dry-off procedure.

Phase I of the project identified literacy and language barriers. Year two brought to light the challenge of workers lacking any experience with milking cows upon arrival at farms. Virkler’s team added bilingual read-aloud audio options in Phase II and asked farms to provide one hour of paid training time, both of which greatly improved worker completion rates to 100 percent in year two. Completion rate in year one was six percent.

The Phase III component on proper collection of aseptic milk samples for culturing dovetails with earlier NNYADP research and QMPS objectives related to more precisely targeting treatment for clinical mastitis to a specific cause to reduce unwarranted antibiotic use. 83 percent of the 60 participating workers in the Phase III training evaluation showed post-training improvement.

“This new e-learning training system can serve as a foundational tool to help dairy farms improve their operations and provide an alternative to face-to-face training. We hope the creation of this new way of training dairy workers will encourage farms to make it part of a broad, ongoing, on-farm educational culture for workers,” Virkler said.

Going forward, the Phase I and Phase II modules will be migrated to the Phase III platform that proved to be more user-friendly, allowing easier access for farms to all three modules.

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

March 30,2022 UPDATE: Click here to hear the 17-minute webinar recording on this research

Peru, New York; February 11, 2022  The 2021 results of precision apple orchard management research funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program are now posted under the Research: Horticulture and Local Foods tab at nnyagdev.org (see About Us: NNYADP Projects tab).

The research, aimed at fully understanding how to best incorporate the use of computer-based fruit physiology modeling into timing orchard thinning practices to achieve optimal crop load and quality, includes data on the use of alternative thinning products and evaluates the economic impact.

Commercial apple orchards in northeastern New York participated in the in-orchard trials. Project leader Michael Basedow, a tree fruit specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program, explained the motivation for the research and its importance to Northern New York growers.

“Trees thinned earlier at bloom with alternative thinning materials in this trial may produce larger fruit at harvest and greater return bloom the following spring; however, while bloom thinning with these materials is used extensively by Washington State apple growers, it has been difficult to precisely time its application under Northern New York conditions,” said Basedow.

“Our findings from the 2021 trials validate that adequate levels of thinning can be achieved with the use of alternative thinning materials to provide Northern New York fruit growers more choices of products to choose for thinning at bloom, when they are followed by an integrated, multiple step thinning program at petal fall, fruit set, and beyond,” Basedow noted.

The 2021 trials evaluated the use of the pollen tube growth model, developed at Virginia Tech, that estimates the time between pollination and fertilization of flowers for seven varieties of apples to guide when thinning applications should be applied to reduce the number of flowers. The orchards’ response to the trial applications was quantified by using the fruit growth rate model developed by researchers at Cornell University, the University of Massachusetts, and Michigan State University.

Basedow’s work focused on the popular Gala and Honeycrisp varieties in the Northern New York orchards.

The gross crop value per acre ranged from $14,586 to $28,857 per acre, with total returns per acre from $14,541.60 to $28,827.40 depending on the variety of apple, orchard location, and type of application. These values are estimates of the gross crop value minus the cost of the thinning applications; other per acre expenses that growers incur throughout the course of the production season are not included.

Estimated production from these NNY precision orchard management research trials ranged from 1,214 to 1,307 bushels per acre with a fruit size range of 87-118 apples per bushel.

The next research steps will be to more precisely target the optimal rate of application to achieve optimal crop load with fewer follow-up thinning applications post-bloom, and to further understand the impact of weather on the efficacy of the applications.

Basedow will present the results of these in-orchard thinning trials in more detail as part of a “What’s New in Crop Load Management” webinar via Zoom from 1:30 to 4:45 pm on March 18, 2022. To register, visit https://enych.cce.cornell.edu/events.php or call 518-410-6823.

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

Lowville, New York; January 25, 2022.  Grace-Way Farm, Lowville, New York, is among several regional farms assisting the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program’s research-based development of alfalfa varieties resistant to alfalfa snout beetle (ASB). ASB is the most destructive pest of alfalfa, a highly valued dairy and livestock forage crop.

In the summer of 2021, plant breeding specialists from Cornell University collected five-year-old surviving plants from field research plots at the Marc Laribee family’s Grace-Way Farm in Lewis County. The plants are now being propagated in a Cornell greenhouse in Ithaca, New York, for the development of five new populations of ASB-resistant alfalfa. They will produce seed that will become the basis of a larger field trial to continue the development of alfalfa varieties with progressively-increasing resistance to ASB.

Two of the five populations of alfalfa established at Grace-Way Farm are advanced selections from the first NNYADP-funded ASB-resistance trials at Peck Homestead Farm in Great Bend in the 1990s. This greenhouse phase of the research also includes ASB-resistance alfalfa populations selected from NNYADP research plots at Sheland Farms in Belleville and Limestone Ridge Farm in Lowville.

The development of ASB-resistant alfalfa varieties is part of a two-pronged management solution developed through the long-term commitment of the NNYADP and regional farmers. The research developed original science for the use of native New York nematodes as a biocontrol application that has proven to reduce ASB populations. The combined use of the biocontrol nematodes protocol in tandem with planting progressively-bred ASB-resistant alfalfa varieties is restoring alfalfa production on northern New York dairy farms.

Cornell University Plant Breeding and Genetics Assistant Professor Virginia Moore, Ph.D., leads the ASB-resistance breeding project. Cornell University Entomologist Elson Shields, Ph.D., pioneered the biocontrol nematode science that is now being applied to or tested with multiple crops in multiple states. Learn more about both of these NNYADP research projects at https://www.nnyagdev.org.

 

The New York State Legislature established the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program in 1961. Funding for the NNYADP is administered through the New York State Department of Agricultural and Markets.

  JANUARY 19, 2022: 12:15 pm -2:15 pm
Dairy Day Presentations on NNYADP Dairy Research Via Zoom
Learn about the NNYADP calf barn ventilation project case studies, the transition cow management and nutrition project, and the latest update on the milk quality e-learning training systems as 3 of 6 presentations.

Program is free, but registration is requested. Click here for more details on these January 19 programs, as well as January 18 and January 20 programs, organized by Cornell Cooperative Extension (315-788-8450). Program is sponsored in part by NNYADP grant funding.

Funding for the NNYADP is supported by the New York State Legislature and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Learn about other NNYADP dairy research  at https://nnyagdev.org/index.php/research-news/research-projects.