New York Farm Bureau has posted a page to express support for the Northern NY Agricultural Development Program; scroll down at https://www.nyfb.org/engagements.

NNYADP Tile Drainage Research Results to be Presented During Virtual Crop Congress on Feb. 24

Chazy, New York; February 15, 2021. Unprecedented agricultural water quality research funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) is producing significant insight into how nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen are transported across and through soil. On February 24, 2021, project leader Laura Klaiber, a nutrient management researcher at the Miner Institute in Chazy, New York, will present the latest three years of data during the 2021 North Country Crop Congress, held via Zoom (see registration contact below).

In her presentation on February 24, Klaiber will share key points from year-round, edge-of-field research trials that have captured field surface and tile drainage runoff with monitoring equipment on a farm in Keeseville, New York. Tile drainage is a critical practice used in crop fields with naturally poorly-drained soils, and in short growing season areas, to significantly enhance and stabilize crop quality and yield.

“The use of tile drainage has come under scrutiny as a potential source of excess nutrients in watersheds. Prior to this Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-supported study, little research had been specifically designed to compare the impacts of common agricultural drainage practices on regional water quality,” Klaiber said.

“Now, through the continuous year-round monitoring of nutrient movement in surface runoff and tile drainage in farm fields provided for these trials, we are able to generate data to inform field management practices that will help conserve our natural resources,” Klaiber added.

This northern New York-based research is showing that non-growing season, weather-related events play a critical and consistent role in nutrient transport; however, more data is needed before researchers can more accurately pinpoint how the interactions between weather and field conditions relate to runoff quantity and quality.

“These trials are precedent-setting with insights that can only be developed with long-term studies due to the high variability of runoff rates and nutrient concentrations that occur across events and on an annual basis,” Klaiber said.

Time and intensive study are required to isolate the diverse contributing factors and interactions that influence the biological uptake, release, and transport of agricultural nutrients through soil. The interaction of weather, cropping systems, field management, soil type and fertility, topography and other factors all impact nutrient retention or export from both surface and tile drainage.

“We are encouraged that the data show reductions in exported phosphorus and sediment. This can have important implications for the phosphorus-reduction efforts ongoing in the Lake Champlain Basin; however, this improvement must be considered in balance with the increased risk for nitrogen mobilization. Future research is needed to identify practices, or more likely suites of practices, that can improve both of these water quality parameters simultaneously,” Klaiber noted.

With each successive year of data analysis, the research team is evolving best practices related to manure, nutrient and crop management to help growers enhance production efficiency and farm-based environmental stewardship.

The NNYADP first began collaborating on this groundbreaking tile drainage-related water quality research in 2010. Water resource managers and farmers alike want to know more about the potential differences in soil erosion and the transport of nutrients from fields with and without tile drainage.

Project collaborators have included the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which provided land for trials at Lake Alice Wildlife Management Area in Chazy; the Lake Champlain Basin Program; SUNY Plattsburgh; the New England Institute of Water Pollution Control Commission; Champlain Valley Agronomics; River Bend Agricultural Engineering Services; and regional farms.

Klaiber has presented the results of this NNYADP-funded water quality research to agricultural and natural resource interest groups in New York, New England, and nationally through the annual joint meeting of the Soil Science Society of America, Crop Science Society of America, and American Society of Agronomy.

To register for the February 24, 2021 North Country Crop Congress, contact your local Cornell Cooperative Extension office or reach Cornell University Regional Field Crops Specialist Michael Hunter at 315-788-8450 or meh27@cornell.edu.

NNYADP tile drainage project results reports since 2010 are posted at https://nnyagdev.org/index.php/2020-nnyadp-projects.

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.

Hay & Forage Grower magazine recently (2/9/2021) featured an article by Editor Mike Rankin titled “Meadow fescue a star in alfalfa mixtures” about the NNYADP-funded alfalfa-grass mix quality research led by Cornell University Professor Debbie J.R. Cherney.

Cherney’s 2020 project report is posted at https://nnyagdev.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NNYADPJan2021AlfGrassReportFINAL.pdf.

This April 2020 photo shows the fall 2019-seeded planting of an alfalfa-meadow fescue mix at Garden of Eden Farm in Philadelphia, New York.

Willsboro, New York; February 10, 2021.  Research on “super fruits” funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) will add elderberry trials this spring. American and European varieties of elderberry will be planted alongside already-established juneberry, aronia, and honeyberry trials as part of the New Commercial Fruit Crops for Northern New York project at the Willsboro Research Farm in Willsboro, New York. The latest report on these trials is posted on the NNYADP website at https://nnyagdev.org.

Project leader and Willsboro Research Farm Manager Michael H. Davis, Ph.D., notes “Currently, ninety-five percent of the elderberries consumed in the U.S. are imported from Europe, so there is a great opportunity for American growers to build a substantial domestic market. This research funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is increasing the number of specialty fruit crop options available to regional market farms.”

All four fruits in the NNYADP “Super Fruits” trials are valued for their high phytonutrtient and antioxidant content. In Europe, elderberry is an economically important fruit crop that outsells blueberries.

Davis says the juneberry, aronia, and honeyberry varieties planted in the Willsboro trial and on regional farms participating in the research have adapted well to the northern New York climate. On-farm trials are adding NNY growers’ experiences to the development best management practices for establishing, producing, and marketing these specialty fruits.

SUNY Plattsburgh Professor and noted juneberry research Michael B. Burgess, Ph.D. is assisting the NNYADP novel fruits project. He has been a part of the research since NNYADP funding initiated the establishment of a juneberry research nursery with both wild-collected and commercially-available varieties at Willsboro in 2013.

“The trials at Willsboro and on northern New York farms are providing critical agronomic performance data that include growth habits, flowering and fruiting times, disease susceptibility soil preferences, and fruit quality and yield to help growers select the varieties that will be best-suited to their individual farms,” says Burgess.

Based on the most recent juneberry testing that shows the larger fruits tend to be more flavorful, the research team would like to investigate if fruit size and flavor can be enhanced by adjusting pruning and fertility management practices.

In 2020, the NNYADP trial collected a third growing season of data on aronia plant growth, flowering, and fruit yields. Aronia production in North America has blossomed into a multi-million dollar industry that includes more than 60 unique aronia value-added products.

“Aronia appears exceptionally well-suited to our northern climate and is capable of producing fruit throughout the growing season here. That success coupled with a burgeoning market for fresh fruit and value-added aronia products makes this fruit an exciting new specialty opportunity for northern New York growers,” Davis says.

Honeyberry offers regional growers the opportunity to generate income earlier in the year as honeyberry produces mature fruit early in the season, even before the eagerly anticipated fresh strawberry crop. The NNYADP-funded research has begun building a comprehensive dataset of flowering dates for the honeyberry varieties being grown in northern New York.

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.

Click here to see August 2020 update on this “Super Fruits” research in NNY

Click to read the 2020 NNYADP fruit research results report

 

NNYADP Research Evaluates Opportunity to Meet NY’s Malting Barley Demand

Chazy, Canton, and Willsboro, NY; February 3, 2021.  The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) has funded research investigating the opportunity for regional growers to meet the New York State requirement that all Farm Brewery-Licensed beer be made with 90 percent New York-grown ingredients by 2024. The results of the first two years of trials at three sites in northern New York are now posted on this website under Research: Field Crops (https://nnyagdev.org/index.php/field-crops/nnyadp-research-malting-barley/).

Cornell University Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics Mark E. Sorrells, Ph.D., NNYADP malting barley project leader, noted, “Presently, not enough malting barley is being grown in New York State to meet brewer demand for New York-grown ingredients, which is driven by New York State law. Production of malting-grade and feed-grade barley could become a viable option for northern New York growers. We must learn whether today’s malting barley varieties will reliably overwinter in the northern regional climate.”

With funding from the NNYADP in 2019 and 2020, Sorrells established trials of winter and spring malting barley at Chazy, Canton, and Willsboro, New York. He is pleased with the early data.

“The winter survival rate was surprisingly good, particularly at one site, after one year of winter exposure for the 10 winter malting barley varieties planted at Canton and Willsboro in the fall of 2019. The varieties that had the best winter survival also produced the best grain yields. Four varieties produced yields of 50 or more bushels per acre with survival rates of 86 percent or higher,” Sorrells said.

Sorrells points out that the trials’ early data sets clearly make the case for multi-year and regional testing. The spring malting barley variety that had the lowest yield in 2019 produced the highest mean plot yield and test weight in 2020 for the combined Chazy-Canton evaluation of the 10 varieties planted at both sites. Additional years’ data will help determine the factors influencing that dramatic difference in results.

Sorrells estimates the market value of malting barley at $8 to $12 per bushel, and notes that the regional research also positions NNY growers to sell their crops to malt houses and brewers in neighboring states as well as to those in New York State.

A 2018 economic study by the New York State Brewers Association, Rochester, New York, reported that 26 breweries located throughout the six-county northern New York region employed 3339 workers receiving $34.589 million in wages, with a total industry output of more than $130.4 million in the regional economy.

The complete Malting Barley Variety Evaluations for Production in NNY report is posted under the Research: Field Crops tab at https://nnyagdev.org.

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.