Weighing the 2018 Juneberry Crop in Willsboro

July 2018.  The research team at the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm has been busy picking and weighing (and tasting) the 2018 crop of Juneberries in the nursery there. The nursery, which contains a number of different varieties of the high-antioxidant berry, was established with funding from the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program. Juneberries (amelanchier) are sold as fresh fruit and u-pick, and are popular for making jams and jellies.

The co-leaders of this project are Dr. Michael Burgess, SUNY Plattsburgh, and Cornell Willsboro Research Farm Manager Michael H. Davis. Read more about this project under the Horticulture tab, Juneberries section of this website.

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How Does Summer Heat Impact Dairy Cows on Northern New York Farms? See NNYADP-Funded Research by Miner Institute

Chazy, NY: July 16, 2018. Heat stress in dairy cattle in the United States costs the dairy industry $1.5 billion annually according to a 2003 study by Ohio State University (St. Pierre et al.) and the University of Illinois. A 2012 study by the University of Florida (De Vries) estimated the economic loss for heat-stressed cows under minimal heat abatement to vary from $72 per cow per year in Wisconsin to more than $600 per cow per year at dairy farms in Florida.

“Dairy cattle respond to heat stress in several ways, including greater standing time, reduced eating activity and less rumination, increased water consumption, and reduced milk production,” said Katie Ballard, Director of Research at the W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute, Chazy, NY.

With funding from the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, Miner Institute has conducted a number of studies evaluating how climate stress impacts dairy cows and calves and the work continues this summer. The results of past studies are posted in the Dairy section of the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website at www.nnyagdev.org.

In 2017, Miner Institute assessed the impact of episodic heat stress on dairy cows managed within varying farm management systems with different degrees of heat abatement.

The research team evaluated the impact on cow behavior; productive response, lameness, milk yield and milk components production from June through September on four dairy farms in Northern New York.

“The results of this study made it clear that dairy cows in the northern region of New York State are adversely impacted by episodic bouts of heat stress even during a summer without any true heat waves. All the farms participating in the project were impacted to varying degrees regardless of the type of heat abatement employed,” said Ballard.

The heat abatement measures used in the housing systems during the study included natural ventilation only, fans over stalls, naturally-assisted ventilation, and forced ventilation. The study included both free stall and tie-stall barns, sand bedding and rubber mats with shavings, and different cow stocking densities.

While all cows spent more time standing and less time lying during heat events, the cows with only natural ventilation were impacted the most and exhibited decreased resting time, increased lameness, and decreased milk protein content, resulting in an expected negative impact on farm profitability.

With a 2018 Northern New York Agricultural Development Program grant, this research into the impact of heat stress on dairy cows in NNY continues with the addition of a farm using fans and water sprinkler system over the cows’ feedbunk. Evaluation of factors that influence cow bunching behavior is also part of the 2018 project.

“This summer is certainly starting out to be much hotter and more humid than last summer, and more stressful for cows and humans,” Ballard said.

Click here for the complete 2018 research report on “The Impact of Episodic Heat Stress on Lactating Dairy Cows on NNY Farms.”

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

 

Willsboro, NY; July 3, 2018.  In-field demonstrations with agricultural specialists and growers from NY and Vermont and six learning stations are all part of the Reduced Tillage in Organic Systems Field Day to be held Tuesday, July 31, 2018, from 9 am to 3 pm at the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm, 48 Sayward Lane, Willsboro, NY. The event is free to attend.

The overall focus of the day on improving soil health was developed to meet grower requests. While the event is geared toward organic vegetable, row crop, and small grain growers, the practices discussed will also benefit conventional growers.

“Decreasing soil disturbance maintains diverse and active biological activity that is critical for well-functioning, healthy soil. Reducing tillage intensity and mechanical soil disturbance can improve soil health. Over time, this helps maintain or increase crop yields, while reducing production costs due to saved labor, equipment wear, and fuel,” notes organizer Amy Ivy, a vegetable specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension, Clinton County.

The field day topics include roller-crimping, zone tillage in high residue, in-row cultivation tools, stale seedbed and weed seed bank management strategies and grower experiences with reduced tillage on their farms.

The field day speakers are Jean-Paul Courtens, Roxbury Farm, Kinderhook, NY; University of Vermont Agronomist Heather Darby; Cornell Willsboro Research Farm Manager Mike Davis; Jack Lazor, Butterwork Farm, Westfield, VT; Chuck Bornt, Cornell Cooperative Extension Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program; Bryan Brown and Ryan Maher, Cornell Small Farms Program; Kitty O’Neil, Cornell Cooperative Extension North Country Regional Ag Team; and Cornell University Weed Ecology and Management Professor John Wallace.

Participants at the day-long event will rotate between three demonstration and discussion stations in the morning and three in the afternoon. Lunch is included. The first 50 attendees will receive a program resource booklet.

The Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Essex County and the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm coordinated this field day with funding support from the New York State Soil Health Initiative, Lake Champlain Basin Program, and the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program.

For more information, contact Amy Ivy, Cornell Cooperative Extension Clinton County, 518-561-7450, adi2@cornell.edu.

Corn and Soybean Disease Surveys Alert Farmers to Recent Trends

Ithaca, NY: July 3, 2018.  As Northern New York farmers scout corn and soybean fields for any diseases that may impact crop health and yield, they can use five years’ worth of survey results as a guide to newly-emerging and common crop pathogens in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties

The corn and soybean disease survey project is funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program. In addition to identifying current areas of concern and trends, the project provides regional farmers with the expertise of Cornell Cooperative Extension specialists who scout 12 sentinel fields of corn and 21 sentinel fields of soybeans. These fields on Northern New York farms represent different soils and growing conditions, and a variety of cropping practices.

Fields are assessed at various stages of crop growth. The Bergstrom Lab at Cornell University has cultured and analyzed field samples since 2013.

“Multi-year surveys better capture variations in weather from year-to-year, from a wet spring to drought in the past five years. The data helps farmers make more informed corn and soybean variety selections, evaluate soil and crop debris for potential problems, and plan management strategy,” said project leader and Cornell plant pathologist Dr. Gary C. Bergstrom, Ithaca, NY.

This disease survey project was started in 2013 as the first systematic assessment of corn and soybean diseases conducted in Northern New York in recent decades.

Results of the most recent NNY corn disease survey by county is online at https://fieldcrops.cals.cornell.edu/corn/diseases-corn/corn-disease-survey.

A statewide soybean disease survey is online at https://fieldcrops.cals.cornell.edu/soybeans/diseases-soybeans/soybean-disease-survey.

For more information, contact Cornell Cooperative Extension NNY Field Crop Specialists Kitty O’Neil, 315-854-1218, and Mike Hunter, 315-788-8450.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Senate and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Learn more at www.nnyagdev.org.

MORE INFORMATION:
An Overview of NNY Crop Disease Survey 2013-2017

. 2013-2016: Northern corn leaf blight was the dominate disease in corn
. 2014, 2015, 2017: Head smut re-emerged in corn, not identified in NY since the 1980s
. 2014: Northern stem canker identified in soybean; first confirmation in NY in Northern NY and Western NY
. 2016: First confirmation in NNY of Charcoal rot and Phytophthora root rot and charcoal rot, which favor dry conditions, in soybean
. 2017: Four corn diseases and four soybeans diseases identified, with common rust a widespread challenge in corn crops, and white mold, stem canker, and pod and stem blight the most commonly identified disease problems in soybean crops.

White mold discovered in Jefferson County, NY, 2017.
Photos: Mike Hunter

Got Corn Rootworm?
Try this Alfalfa Pest Solution from Northern NY for Control

Henderson, NY; June 26, 2018. Following the successful application of biocontrol nematodes to reduce the impact of alfalfa snout beetle, Northern New York farmers and a research team led by Cornell University entomologist Elson Shields are now evaluating their use to combat corn rootworm. The most recent report of research trial results is posted at www.nnyagdev.org.

If the biocontrol nematodes are as effective against corn rootworm, farmers could potentially eliminate the need and expense for corn varieties with incorporated BT toxin for corn rootworm or for soil insecticide use on conventional corn varieties.

Research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program across 85 fields on farms in Northern New York where biocontrol nematodes have been applied to reduce snout beetle populations has shown that the biocontrol nematodes persist in fields after rotation to corn. Their populations are also known to increase in corn years 2-4 when corn rootworm larvae are feeding on corn roots.

In trials since 2014 when the biocontrol nematodes were applied at the Musgrave Research Farm in Aurora, NY, they have persisted in high levels each year. They have reduced corn root feeding damage with results equal or at a better level of root protection than with the best BT-CRW corn variety in year 2 of the corn crop in the trial. Their level of persistence has also been at a level sufficient for controlling corn rootworm larvae when the population rebounds from the wet years during the hatching period.

One of the farms participating in this biocontrol nematode research is Morning Star Farms in Henderson, NY. A spring 2018 bioassay there indicated a high level of nematode persistence, two years after application. The level is high enough to protect a new alfalfa stand there from invasion of alfalfa snout beetle in coming years.

The value of this biocontrol nematode research has now traveled from Northern New York to multiple states. For example, in West Texas, where CRW adult populations have been very high, the use of biocontrol nematodes resulted in significant reduction of the pest and the root damage caused by it.

The biocontrol nematode protocol is also being tested in field trials in New Mexico, Ohio, and Michigan.

Shields notes, “Without the long-term support of the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program for the research needed to develop a solution for alfalfa snout beetle, this study to evaluate the potential to eliminate the need for BT-rootworm corn or soil insecticides on conventional varieties would not be possible here in New York or in the other states now applying the biocontrol nematodes.”

The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is a research and technical assistance program for the farmers in the six northernmost counties of New York State.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Senate and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. The results of past projects funded through the Program are posted on this website: www.nnyagdev.org.