Left: Cornell PRO-DAIRY Forages Specialist Joe Lawrence speaks about no-till methods for dairy farms at the 2019 Soil Health Field Day at McKnight’s River Breeze Farm in Chase Mills, N.Y. Right: NNY farmers and NNY ag professionals discuss no-till methods and soil health strategies at McKnight’s River Breeze Farm in Chase Mills, N.Y. Photos: CCE North Country Regional Ag Team

Northern N.Y. ; October 30, 2020. Cornell University Cooperative Extension researchers funded by a Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) grant worked with farms in the NNY region to identify optimal sampling levels for seven key soil health indicators. This findings of this research work to more accurately assess the restorative effectiveness of farms’ efforts to improve soil health over time.

Because soil health improvements are slow and subtle, more precise and accurate sampling strategies are needed. The goal of this NNYADP-funded research project was to identify specific sampling guidance for farms, county Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs), and other agencies that often use soil health testing as part of their environmental conservation and crop management work. Participating farmers were from Chazy, Fort Covington, Madrid, Malone, Sackets Harbor, West Chazy, and Willsboro. The complete report is posted on the NNYADP website at www.nnyagdev.org.

Soil health supports both crop growth and environmental stewardship. Soil type and texture, climate, topography, and land management all influence soil health. Improvement in soil health occurs gradually and can vary within a single field. Sampling sites for the NNYADP-funded project were selected with the use of aerial soil maps.

Cornell University Cooperative Extension (CCE) regional soils and crops specialist Kitty O’Neil, Ph.D., led the research with assistance from SWCDs, CCE, and the Cornell Nutrient Management Spear Program. Soil samples are collected in spring and fall at two soil depths in row crop fields on the participating farms.

Soil sample analysis determined the number of samples needed to detect a 10 percent improvement in soil health based on soil pH, soil organic matter, surface hardness, subsurface hardness, within-field phosphorus, aggregate stability, and soil respiration.

The number of samples needed varied widely across the indicators under evaluation. The least variable soil health indicator within a field in this project was soil pH. The most variable within-field soil health indicator was soil phosphorus.

The data from this project will be compared with historical yield data to investigate linkages for additional soil and crop management enhancement.

As a general guideline, based on this project’s findings, the researchers suggest a minimum of 40 to 50 subsample locations per field for farmers who wish to begin monitoring soil health status and improvements over time on a broad scale. To evaluate individual soil health components, more intensive sampling can be done.

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. Learn more at www.nnyagdev.org.

Click here to read the NNYADP Soil Health project results

The success of the NNYADP-funded project for the Surveillance of Johne’s Disease in NNY Sheep Flocks has led to Extension receiving a NESARE grant for a new Johne’s disease study in NNY goat herds.

Click here to read the NNYADP final report and fact sheet on the sheep study, conducted by Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County and the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets:
https://nnyagdev.org/index.php/livestock/research/.

For more information on the goat project, contact Betsy Hodge, CCE St. Lawrence County, 315-379-9192, bmf9@cornell.edu.

The September 10, 2020 issue of Hoard’s Dairyman includes a Milk Quality section article on the NNYADP-funded project that is developing online training for milking staff. The article by project leader and Quality Milk Production Services veterinarian Paul D. Virkler and three colleagues summarizes year-one of the project and identifies issues that the research team is now working to address. One of those issues is one that many employers in all fields can relate to: how to keep employees engaged. For the dairy industry, literacy is also often a stumbling block.

Virkler notes that the pilot year of the project “clearly showed a need for ongoing milker training and that an online platform can work on some levels…”.

With permission from Hoard’s Dairyman, a W.D. Hoard and Sons Company, Fort Atkinson, WI, we share this link to “Online worker training has its hurdles” by Paul D. Virker, D.V.M., Paula Ospina, D.V.M., Valeria Alanis Gallardo, D.V.M., and Wolfgang Heuwieser, D.V.M.

NNYADP research report: Assessing the Effects of E-Learning Training Systems on Milk Quality and Dairy Parlor Performance

NNYADP Winter-Grown Spinach Trials: Nitrogen Savings May Be Possible

Willsboro, N.Y.; September 21, 2020.  How much nitrogen fertilizer does winter-grown, high tunnel spinach really need? Cornell vegetable specialists had heard of some producers applying up to 600 pounds per acre.  Their research conducted with Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) grant funding suggests that growers in colder climates may be able to save on nitrogen costs while harvesting the popular leafy green for late year and early spring sales.

“Our data suggests that spinach crops may require significantly less pre-plant nitrogen fertilizer than is commonly applied in northern New York,” said Cornell Vegetable Program Specialist Judson Reid, co-leader of the NNYADP project hosted at the Willsboro Research Farm in Willsboro, New York.

The Cornell guidelines suggest applying 130 pounds of nitrogen (N) per acre for high tunnel spinach crops; however, “we have heard of a wide range of applications with reports of 200 to 600 pounds per acre,” said Reid.

The NNYADP research project compared spinach grown with application of 65, 130 or 300 pounds of N per acre and without any N applied to the unheated, high tunnel trial plots from 2017-2020. The fertilizer, a 10 percent N commercial fertilizer blend of vegetable protein meals, was applied one week before the planting of August 27-seeded spinach seedlings and later September 10-seeded spinach seedlings. The crop remained uncovered throughout the trial and received overhead irrigation as needed.

The trial spinach was harvested at baby to medium leaf stage on four dates: October 15 and November 4, 2018; and March 1 and April 2, 2019.

“The control plot with no added nitrogen yielded as much spinach as plots treated with up to 200 pounds of nitrogen per acre across all four harvest dates,” explained project co-leader Elisabeth Hodgdon, a vegetable specialist based in Plattsburgh, New York, with the Cornell Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program.

The researchers recommend that high tunnel growers seed their spinach crop in late August for transplanting in September rather than into October.

“The earlier planting date of September 21 produced significantly greater yields than the spinach planted two weeks later on October 9. The later planting did, however, catch up with similar yields by the April 2nd harvest date,” Hodgdon noted.

“This cold-climate research suggests that northern New York growers may be able to reduce input costs by forgoing or reducing fall fertilizer application. However, soil nutrient levels from the previous sod in the tunnel may have influenced the results of this initial trial. We are now evaluating whether the source of nitrogen fertilization impacts the response of the spinach to the rate of application,” said Reid.

For the 2019-2020 trials, the research team plowed the sod under before setting up its high tunnel to receive August 30-seeded spinach seedlings on September 24, 2019. This trial is evaluating four rates of N fertilization using two different fertilizer types: a 13 percent water insoluble nitrogen feather meal and the 10 percent commercial fertilizer blend used in the 2018-2019 trial.

The trials in 2017-2018 evaluated three sources of nitrogen: urea, blood meal, and alfalfa cover crop. In 2018-2019, the researchers evaluated spinach yield under different rates from a single source: a 10 percent commercial fertilizer blend of vegetable protein meals as noted earlier.

These three years’ NNYADP spinach trial reports and a pre-recorded Introduction to Winter Growing webinar are posted on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website under the Research: Horticultural and Local Foods tab at www.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.

Read the NNYADP Winter-Grown Spinach Report

Lowville, N.Y.; September 16, 2020.  The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) has published the second-year results of research into whether re-tapping maple trees in one sap season increases single-season syrup production. The report is posted at www.nnyagdev.org.

Uihlein Maple Research Forest Director Adam D. Wild will share the results of the re-tapping research at the October 3, 2020 Lewis County Maple School in Lowville, N.Y., and via a free Cornell Maple Program virtual workshop on November 24, 2020. For October 3rd workshop cost and registration, call Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County at 315-376-5270 before September 30. To register for the six-program Cornell maple virtual series, go to www.cornellmaple.com.

Changing weather patterns are causing maple producers in northern New York to seek information on the best time to tap trees for maximum production value. Research conducted outside of northern New York has indicated that tapping for early sap run and re-tapping later in the maple season could potentially increase syrup production yields by at least 20 percent or $6 per tap profit. The farmer-driven NNYADP- funded trials in 2019-2020 tested that opportunity under northern New York conditions and regionality played a role in the results.

“Our timing-of-tapping research was done in Lake Placid’s northern forest environment which traditionally experiences extremely cold winters, deep snowpack, and a maple season that starts later than maple-producing areas to the south. In those southern areas where heavy sap flow starts in January followed by intermittent freeze-thaw cycles re-tapping provided more of a benefit than we saw in our trials in the northern New York-type maple-producing region,” Wild noted.

“Although re-tapping by adding a second dropline with a new spout here produced an average of 23 percent more syrup per tap, once time and material were factored into the economic equation, there was a loss of 73 cents per tap. Although droplines and T-fittings could be used for a few seasons, there is still added labor time and droplines must be capped off completely to prevent vacuum loss,” Wild added.

An additional outcome of the NNY project emphasized the importance of preserving tap hole cleanliness as a best management practice. The data showed that increasing sanitary practices in the sugarbush to limit microbe growth within any tap holes drilled well before the season starts is warranted.

“Everyone should consider implementing practices, such as the use of check-valve spouts, new droplines, or cleaning, to preserve tap hole sanitation and achieve optimal sap production,” Wild said.

At the October 3^rd workshop in Lowville, Wild will cover factors that influence how the timing of when maple trees are tapped impacts sap yield and, in a separate session, present basic tubing design and installation for gravity-fed and vacuum sap collection systems. In the 7 pm Cornell Maple virtual workshop on November 24, Wild will present “Maximizing Production in Your Sap Collection System” with a live discussion.

The Northern New York maple industry has grown from a $3.25 million annual industry in 2008 to an estimated $10-12 million industry with room yet to grow in 2021 .

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. Learn more at www.nnyagdev.org.