NNYADP-Funded Research Trials Evaluating Farmers’ Fall Planting Questions

September 6, 2024.  Research funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) is addressing challenges raised by a regional focus group interested in the potential benefits of fall-planted cover crops.

“The focus group of regional farmers and agribusinesses expressed a need to identify cover crop varieties that will establish well specifically in northern New York’s colder soil and have increased winter season hardiness after a late fall planting in the region,” said project leader Dr. Virginia Moore, Ph.D., of the Cornell University School of Integrative Plant Science, Ithaca, New York.

Since the fall season of 2022, with NNYADP grant support, Dr. Moore and Dr. Julie L. Hansen, Ph.D., a plant breeding and genetics specialist with Cornell University, have been collecting data from cover crop trials on working dairy and vegetable farms in Clinton and Lewis counties, at Miner Institute in Chazy, the Willsboro Research Farm, and the Cornell Cooperative Extension Learning Farm in St. Lawrence County.

Fall-planted cover crops help reduce soil erosion and nutrient runoff, filter surface and ground water, add organic matter to the soil, reduce weeds and pests, and sequester carbon in the soil. However, Northern New York’s short growing season, climate conditions, and at times wet soil conditions pose barriers to the regional adoption of fall-planted cover crops.

The cover crop being evaluated is cereal rye. Dr. Hansen explains, “Cereal rye is the most common cover crop due to its unparalleled biomass production, weed suppression, and growth under colder climate conditions.”

The data being collected from the NNYADP cereal rye research plantings include soil composition, seedling emergence after various planting dates, winter survival, plant vigor, growth, the biomass of the cereal rye crop, and the weed pressure in the plots.

The fall planting dates in the trials across two year have ranged from September 25^th to November 6^th.

The Northern New York farmers participating in the trials will be surveyed in 2025 for feedback on results to date. Project collaborators include Happy Haven Farm in Mooers, New York; Dyer Farms in Plattsburgh, New York; Pominville Farms in Croghan, New York; Cornell University field crops; soils and dairy specialists; and personnel with the Soil and Water Conservation Districts in Clinton and Lewis counties.

Additional research is underway at breeding nurseries initiated at the Willsboro Research Farm, the Homer C. Thompson Vegetable Research Farm in Freeville, New York, and at the University of Minnesota: St. Paul. At those sites, Dr. Moore and Ph.D. student Raksha Thapa are selectively breeding cereal rye varieties with improved ability to emerge in colder soils and to produce sufficient biomass when planted in late fall. The crop populations at the breeding nursery sites are crosses of northern-adapted cereal rye varieties and southern-adapted and alleopathic breeding lines of cereal rye.

The NNYADP trial data are provided to a national Cover Crop Breeding Network, led by Dr. Moore, to broaden national-level field-based knowledge in support of cover crop improvement.

The 2022 and 2023 project reports for this cover crop research are publicly accessible at www.nyyagdev.org.

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

Click here to read the 2023 NNYADP cereal rye cover crop trials report

2025 NNYADP Request for Project Proposals are Due by October 30, 2024

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) is pleased to announce its small grants program for 2025. 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 Northern New York region: Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence counties. Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. For 2025, $300,000 in small grants will be provided through a contract with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets per the 2023-2024 New York State budget.

Click on the links below for more information and application form
2025 NNYADP Research Ideas List (pdf)
2025 NNYADP RFP/Grant Application Form (doc)
2025 NNYADP RFP Project Budget Form (doc)

Click here to see WWNY TV 7 Morning Reporter Emily Griffin’s Ag Weekly feature on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program and Miner Institute research on how to keep dairy cows cool and producing well during periods of climatic heat stress.

Click here to read the full project report on the before and after comparison of fans on a regional dairy farm.

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

Willsboro, New York; August 7, 2024.  The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) has published production data and enterprise budgets analyzing melons as an alternative crop for farms with high tunnels. This research is one of NNYADP’s horticultural projects evaluating opportunities to diversify crop options for spring-to-fall season extension and year-round local foods production.

Regional Vegetable Specialist Elisabeth Hodgdon, Ph.D., and Agricultural Business Development and Marketing Specialist Lindsey Pashow with Cornell University compared the use of two vertical trellising systems – a double leader system and a mesh netting system – to untrellised production in a 30-foot by 96-foot unheated high tunnel. The trial was hosted at the Willsboro Research Farm in Willsboro, New York.

Two varieties of miniature muskmelon, “Sugar Cube” and “Tasty Bites,” were grown using each system and organic production methods, including the use of pest exclusive netting and beneficial insects, including bumblebees, parasitoid wasps, and ladybeetles.

A May 18^th frost stunted the first planting. After reseeding, transplants were moved to the high tunnel on July 6, 2023. The melons on the trellising systems were pruned and clipped for six weeks until they reached the high tunnel rafters in late August.

The melons were harvested two to three times per week beginning in early September and harvest continued until the first fall frost on October 30^th. Marketable yield ranged from four to six marketable fruit with weights ranging from 7.28 pounds to 9.51 pounds per plant.

“Plants harvested in the untrellised system were harvested slightly earlier than with the trellising treatments, which can be beneficial to farms interested in being the first to market with a particular crop,” Pashow noted.

Six enterprise budgets were calculated to identify gross and net income for each variety grown under each of the three systems. Total market weight, yield, and unmarketable melon numbers were all considered in calculating income opportunity. The income potential was compared with the income estimates in studies by Pennsylvania State University and Iowa State University for the popular high tunnel-grown crops of tomatoes and cucumbers.

The net income range of $1,184.43 to $2,835.66 calculated for the melon production systems in northern New York was compared with rough net income potential in studies by Pennsylvania State University and Iowa State University for the popular high tunnel crops of tomatoes ($1,374.00) and cucumbers ($2,550.00).

“While our data suggests that melons likely will not replace tomatoes and cucumbers in a high tunnel system, they may be a valuable addition to a farm’s high tunnel cropping plan. Growers must compare the various aspects of the data from this trial and decide whether the addition of melon production is a good fit for their farm,” Dr. Hodgdon said.

Willsboro Research Farm Manager Michael H. Davis, Ph.D., and Cornell Vegetable Specialist Judson Reid collaborated on the project; program aide Jennifer Stanton assisted with harvest and trial data collection. Click here to read the complete report for this project.

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

August 6, 2024.  Atypical weather in northern New York may have impacted field trials investigating the interseeding of alternative forages on corn silage yield and quality. The trials were conducted by Miner Institute with funding from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP).

“We planted a trial in 2023 to investigate whether interseeding alternative forages into corn silage under northern New York growing conditions could be a way to improve the economics of interseeding by adding yield or quality value to the silage,” says project leader Allen Wilder, forage agronomist at Miner Institute, Chazy, New York.

The 2023 growing season in northern New York was not typical for the region. Conditions were abnormally dry in the spring, followed by an anomalously wet summer. The spring and fall were warmer than normal; however, there were notable cold spells in May that delayed crop development. Late summer was slightly cooler than average. A warmer-than-typical fall in northern New York extended the growing season and contributed to an extremely rapid dry-down. The total yearly precipitation recorded at Miner Institute in 2023 was 142.7 percent of normal.

Wilder established trials at Miner Institute in Chazy, New York, and at a working farm in Mooers, New York. At both sites, corn was planted on 30-inch rows at a plant population of 32,019 plants per acre. Previous manure application provided most of the crop nutrition during the growing season. Glyphosate alone was used for weed control.

Male sterile forage sorghum and forage kale were selected as the alternative forage crops for the trial.

Interseeding was done at the V5 stage of a dwarf variety of corn at Chazy and at V7 stage at Mooers with a six-row drill interseeder. Seeding rate was calculated to be approximately 10.7 pounds per acre for the sorghum and 6.4 pound per acre for the kale.

At the Mooers farm, the interseeding was done relatively close to corn canopy closure, thus, Wilder says, “It is not surprising that no statistical yield difference was detected in the corn there. Almost all the kale had completely died out by the end of the season as a result of being smothered by the corn.”

The forage sorghum at the Mooers site did not reach a height sufficient to be even partially harvested with the corn.

An earlier interseeding date – June 16^th at Chazy vs. June 30th at Mooers – plus the shorter stature of the dwarf corn likely helped the establishment of the interseeded crops at Chazy. By the end of the season, the sorghum, waist high in some areas, produced harvestable biomass able to be cut by a multi-directional corn head. The kale, however, appeared stunted and was unharvestable.

“The interseeding at Chazy of corn with forage sorghum and kale did not result in a corn yield decline. Oddly enough, the moisture content of the corn interseeded with kale was affected with the kale causing the forage sample to be slightly drier than that of the corn interseeded with forage sorghum and the corn-only control,” Wilder says.

Significant differences were not detected in forage quality at Chazy for most parameters evaluated, with some exceptions.

Forage samples from both the interseeded kale and interseeded sorghum plots were proportionally lower in protein than the corn-only control.  Wilder says, “This may be a symptom of increased nitrogen demand on the soil of two crops growing at the same time. In this case, it would make sense that the nitrogen would have to be split between the crops and a lower total crude protein percentage would be harvested.”

Crude fat was slightly, but significantly, lower from the kale interseeding. Wilder postulates that interseeding reduced the fat content of the corn, while additional lipids were captured in the sorghum treatment through harvesting of the sorghum tops.

This one-year trial suggests interseeding at V5 stage or earlier may be warranted for growers in the state’s northern region; however, this single trial also evidences the need for more evaluation of the performance of corn interseeded with alternative forages under different years’ growing conditions. More data would also help with the important selection of forage species for best results with interseeding.

The results of these trials conducted by Miner Institute with funding from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program are publicly accessible at www.nnyagdev.org under About: NNYADP Projects by Year: 2023.

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

Click here to see the Plattsburgh Press-Republican story on this research.