Dairies Cannot Afford to Ignore Alfalfa Snout Beetle,
Even in Low Milk Price Cycle

Northern NY: June 5, 2018.  Untreated, alfalfa snout beetle is costing Northern New York farmers with 100-cow dairies between $30,000 to $60,000 per year every year, depending on the size of the pest infestation and the speed of alfalfa stand loss.

The current cost of controlling alfalfa snout beetle with biocontrol nematodes in a single application for multi-year control is $28 per acre plus the cost of application by the farmer or a custom service.

“Even with the terrible milk prices farmers are currently facing, the cost of biocontrol nematode application should be weighed against the cost of not protecting your alfalfa crop,” says Dr. Elson Shields, the Cornell University entomologist who pioneered the biocontrol nematode solution to combat alfalfa snout beetle and that now appears to be useful for protecting other crops

With assistance from Ev Thomas, Oak Point Agronomics, Ltd; Mike Hunter, Cornell Cooperative Extension; Tom Kilcer, Advanced Ag Systems, LLC; and Michael Miller, W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute, Shields and Research Support Specialist Antonio Testa estimate the true cost of alfalfa snout beetle moving onto the farm in three distinct areas:

1. alfalfa stand and yield loss: average $325 per acre (per cow) per year; range: $200-$500 depending on speed of loss of stand

2. expense of off-farm protein purchased to replace forage quality of lost alfalfa crop; for example, extra soy costs: average $120 per cow per year; range: $56.40 -$201; plus
3. the resulting impact on farm CAFO plan from increased phosphorus brought on farm with increased purchases of protein-like soybean meal.

When a nematode-treated alfalfa field is rotated into corn, research has shown a positive impact on reducing wireworms and corn rootworm. After 4 years of corn production, research has shown that the biocontrol nematodes remain in the field at sufficient populations to provide continual control of alfalfa snout beetle.

Biocontrol nematode applications must be made before September 15. Best results are obtained by applying to alfalfa fields in their seeding year or first production year. It requires 3 to 5 years to totally inoculate a farm with nematodes to reduce the snout beetle population to a manageable level. Learn more at www.alfalfasnoutbeetle.org.

A long-term research commitment by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program supported the development of the science needed to pioneer the use of native nematodes, tiny insect-attacking worms, as a biocontrol to suppress the spread of alfalfa snout beetle.

Subsequent research funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, New York Farm Viability Institute, and others is showing application of the biocontrol nematodes for controlling berry pests, white grub, and other crop pests in New York State and elsewhere in the U.S.

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: from Cornell University and collaborators

Increased Feeding Costs Due to High Quality Forage Loss to Alfalfa Snout Beetle
With the assistance of Ev Thomas, Oak Point Agronomics, Ltd., and Michael Miller, W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute, the Cornell Department of Entomology has estimated the cost of soybean meal to replace the lost alfalfa in a diet of 30 percent forage and 70 percent corn in various scenarios as follow.

Situation 1: Clear-seeded alfalfa lost, replaced to high quality grass (15% CP)
Extra Soy Cost in Diet = $9.30 per cow per month ($111.60 per cow per year); 100 cows = $930 per month or $11,160 per year.

Situation 2: 50% alfalfa, alfalfa is replaced with high quality grass (15% CP)
Extra Soy Cost in Diet = $4.70 per cow per month ($56.40 per cow per year); 100 cows = $470 per month or $4,230 per year. 5640

Situation 3: Clear-seeded alfalfa lost, replaced to average quality grass (11% CP)
Extra Soy Cost in Diet = $16.80 per cow per month ($201 per cow per year); 100 cows = $2,010 per month or $20,100 per year.

Situation 4: 50% alfalfa, alfalfa replaced with average quality grass (11% CP)
Extra Soy Cost in Diet = $8.40 per cow per month ($100.80 per cow per year); 100 cows = $840 per month or $10,080 per year.

A middle of the road figure would be $10 per cow per month ($120 per cow per year) and 100 cows = $1,000 per cow per month ($10,000 per year) (range $5,640 – $20,100 per 100 cows per year).

This brings the cost of alfalfa snout beetle on the farm to $445 per cow per year every year, not accounting for the impact on the CAFO plan for the dairy:
Stand and Yield Loss: $325 per acre (per cow) per year, range: $200-$500

Extra Soy costs: $120 per cow per year, range: $56.40-$201

Total: $445 per cow per year every year; 100 cows = $44,500, range $30,000-$60,000

The Cost of Stand Loss from Alfalfa Snout Beetle Damage
With the assistance of Ev Thomas, Oak Point Agronomics, Ltd; Mike Hunter, Cornell Cooperative Extension; and Tom Kilcer, Advanced Ag Systems, LLC, the Cornell Department of Entomology estimated that alfalfa stand loss from alfalfa snout beetle cost the farmer between $200-$400 an acre per year in a three-cut, 4-year rotation system and $200-$500 per acre per year in a 4-cut, 3-year rotation system. The cost figure is a combination of establishment costs, loss of yield, and fixed land costs.

The variation in cost is dependent on the speed of stand elimination by alfalfa snout beetle. If the stand is eliminated in a single year, the higher cost is appropriate and if the stand is eliminated over 2-3 years, the lower cost is appropriate. A middle of the road figure would be $325 per acre per year. Using the rule of thumb that one acre of forage feeds a cow for a year, stand losses from alfalfa snout beetle equals $325 per cow per year.

Northern NY. The spring harvest of alfalfa-grass mixes may account for up to half of the total forage yield of those crops for dairy farmers. The results of alfalfa-grass research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program may suggest a new option for dairy farmers looking to enhance forage production. The report is posted on this NNYADP website under Field Crops: Alfalfa (see link below).

Cornell University Animal Sciences Professor Debbie J.R. Cherney, who led the research conducted on dairy farms in Northern New York, notes, “It is clear from this research that switching the grass species to meadow fescue in mixtures may have more impact on forage quality than switching alfalfa varieties.”

Furthermore, Cherney notes that the combination of reduced-lignin alfalfa planted with meadow fescue, a winter-hardy grass species, can result in a large increase in neutral detergent fiber digestibility, a measure of the expected energy value that the forage will deliver to dairy cows. Higher digestibility value contributes to cow health and milk production.

Forage quality of both grass and alfalfa can be improved by well-informed variety selection. The field trials at two farms in Jefferson County and one farm in Lewis County in 2016 and 2017 provided researchers, Extension field crop specialists, and farmers the opportunity to learn how new varieties of grass and alfalfa seed released by the seed industry will perform under Northern New York soils and climate.

The trials also evaluated a meadow fescue variety developed by the USDA with reportedly higher digestibility than other meadow fescues.

The plantings and evaluations conducted at the NNY farms produced data on yield and the quality of the alfalfa and of the grass grown in various mixes. The alfalfa and grass were analyzed separately for crude protein, fiber, digestibility and lignin values.

With a 2018 grant from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, the Cornell team will evaluate an alfalfa-grass mixed seeding with timothy established in 2017 in Lewis County, along with seven grasses and three alfalfa varieties there.

The regional research in 2018 will also include testing meadow fescue at several seeding rates in plantings with alfalfa, and the addition of a new variety of meadow fescue that looked very promising in 2017.

Throughout the 2018 spring season, Cornell Cooperative Extension provides weekly updates to alert Northern New York farmers for optimal harvest timing for the first cutting of their alfalfa-grass forage crops. Fiber digestibility declines more than one percentage unit per day in spring growth making optimal harvesting of alfalfa-grass crops a key component of good production management.

Funding for the farmer-driven 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.

Click here to read the full report

Willsboro, NY; May 18, 2018.  The Juneberries are in blossom in the research nursery at the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm in Willsboro, NY. Juneberry, scientifically known as Amelanchier, is an antioxidant superfruit, with the potential to be a major fruit crop for growers in the Northeast.

The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program provided funding in 2013 to begin establishing the first Juneberry research nursery in NY state.

Project leaders Michael B. Burgess, a botanist with the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, and Michael H. Davis, manager of the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm, wild-collected cultivars from multiple states in 2013-2014. The cuttings were established in the greenhouse-laboratory at SUNY Plattsburgh and transplanted to the research farm. The nursery also includes commercial varieties of the fruit known as Saskatoon berry in Canada.

The research being conducted at the Willsboro farm is developing knowledge and best practices to help regional growers successfully establish a Juneberry crop, and understand optimal flowering season, fruit set, pest and disease susceptibility, and individual cultivar hardiness under Northern New York growing conditions.

The research crew at the farm has also done some unofficial taste testing and reports that some of the cultivars have incredible flavor.

This Juneberry research is part of a larger Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-funded project that is evaluating new fruit crops for commercial production by NNY growers. More information is posted in the Horticulture section of this website; also see link below.

On-Farm Trials Added in 2017, 2018
In 2017, in addition to a portion of the living Juneberry collection at the Willsboro farm moving to a new field location adjacent to the variety evaluation trials, Juneberry plantings were established with 44 plants on a farm in Essex County, 20 plants on a farm in Jefferson County. In 2018, one farm each in Franklin County and St. Lawrence County will add plants for grower evaluation.

Funding for the farmer-driven 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.

MORE INFO: https://www.nnyagdev.org/index.php/horticulture/juneberries-in-nny/

Chazy-Peru, NY. Northern New York growers can apple pest identification research to good use this spring as they scout their orchards for troublesome insects.

Grants from the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) funded collaboration by Cornell University faculty and laboratory personnel and Cornell Cooperative Extension educators to scout regional orchards, identify apple pests, and enter real-time data into computer models to help growers more precisely target their orchard applications.

Additionally, this project included orchard-based demonstrations that revitalized grower interest in integrated pest management.

In 2015, 2016, and 2017, trap catch data from the Northern New York scouting missions was sent weekly through Eastern New York Commercial Horticultural Program e-alerts to growers on the activity of key pests at commercial apple orchards in Chazy and Peru, NY. Growers received season-specific information to guide their response to pests such as oriental fruit moth, codling moth, and obliquebanded leafrollers.

In 2017, the research team used the infrastructure put in place by the project the year before to help growers stay alert to fire blight that occurred at an unprecedented epidemic level in the Champlain Valley in 2016. Very few new infections were reported in 2017, and of those reported several were identified as false alarms. In orchards where it was present, growers effectively managed the bacterial disease that destroys apple blossoms, shoots, and, sometimes, entire trees.

Researchers are compiling a Northern New York apple pest database to document pest trends over time.

Recent apple research reports are posted under the Horticulture tab on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website at www.nnyagdev.org. The 2017 key pests report is posted here.

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 Northern New York Agricultural Development Program are posted on this website.

 

NNYADP-Funded Research Shows How to Boost Spring Hay Harvest in Northern NY

Northern N.Y.; May 7, 2018.  Opportunities to boost spring hay crop silage yield and quality were evaluated in research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program. The results of regional on-farm trials with winter rye and triticale in 2016 and 2017 by the W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, NY, are now posted in the Field Crops section at www.nnyagdev.org.

Winter forage crops contribute to soil conservation and can improve soil quality when following a corn silage crop.

“Our evaluation showed that winter rye and triticale can be established as winter forage crops planted in a field after corn silage harvest in Northern New York with economical yields and high quality for harvest as hay crop silage, and these winter forages can be successfully double cropped with corn silage, giving farmers another crop production risk management strategy,” said project leader and Miner Institute Research Agronomist Eric Young.

Triticale was successfully established using no-till methods after termination of an alfalfa-grass field. Future research will help determine the best methods for winter forage crop establishment across varying soil conditions.

Growing winter forage crops for spring harvest as hay for dairy cows and livestock is becoming increasingly popular, but weather can challenge yield and successful retention of crop nutrients.

A complete report, including evaluation of the winter forage crops for dry matter yield, crude protein, water soluble carbohydrates, fiber digestibility, and phosphorus, potassium and lignin content, is posted on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website.

Funding for the farmer-driven 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.