Ithaca, NY; February 27, 2018.  Northern New York farmers interested in protecting their alfalfa crops from the devastating alfalfa snout beetle can take advantage of discounts from the Cornell University laboratory raising the biocontrol nematodes that have been proven to reduce not only populations of snout beetle, but other crop pests as well.

Research funded long-term by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program developed the science needed to pioneer the use of native nematodes, tiny insect-attack worms, as a biocontrol to suppress the spread of the destructive insect.

Recent field trials funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program indicate that the biocontrol nematodes are also having an impact on corn rootworm after a field treated with the nematodes is rotated from alfalfa into corn.

Research elsewhere in the state has shown the biocontrol nematodes can reduce white grub and wireworm populations.

It requires three to five years to totally inoculate a farm with nematodes to reduce the snout beetle populations to a manageable level.

Cornell entomologist Dr. Elson Shields and Research Support Specialist Antonio Testa who developed the protocol for the use and rearing of the biocontrol nematodes recommend application on alfalfa fields in their seeding year or first production year for best results. Based on recent research trials, application can also be made to cornfields.

The Shields Lab at Cornell University that has reared the biocontrol nematodes as part of its research mandate is offering a discount for orders placed for delivery by June 15 for application within the following 3 to 5 days. This advance order deadline is April 28 and an additional ten percent applies for payment in advance or on delivery.

After the April 28 deadline, a ten percent discount applies to any order paid upon delivery. Farmers must contact the lab at no later than 45 days prior to a planned application based on their 2018 alfalfa cutting schedule.

Biocontrol nematode application must be made before September 15.

The cost is $28 per acre before discount.

The Shields’ Lab will only be providing the nematodes through 2021, opening an opportunity for business development to continue to supply the biocontrol nematodes to area farmers. While one nematode rearing business has been developed as a result of this research, others are needed. The Shields’ Lab will assist individuals seriously interested in rearing the biocontrol nematodes as a business.

Farmers who wish to rear their own biocontrol nematodes may also contact the Shields’ Lab for assistance.

For more information, contact Antonio Testa of the Shields’ Lab at 607-591-1493, at28@cornell.edu, or call Cornell Cooperative Extension NNY Field Crops Specialists Mike Hunter, 315-788-8602, or Kitty O’Neil, 315-853-1218.

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.

Alfalfa snout beetle is known to exist across the six northernmost counties of New York State, in Oswego, Cayuga, and Wayne counties in NY, and in southeastern Ontario, Canada. The beetle can destroy entire fields of alfalfa in one growing season. The use of the nematode biocontrol developed in Northern New York is now being trialed in several U.S. states.

The February 9, 2018 edition of Bovine Veterinarian highlights the Northern New York Agricultural Development  Program-funded Winter Calf Respiratory Health project led by NNY Regional Dairy Specialist Dr. Kimberley Morrill. Click here to see that story.

Click here to see the December 12, 2017 Spectrum News report by Katelynn Ulrich who visited Five Mile Farm in St. Lawrence County to talk with Kim and farmer Ryan Akins.

Click here to read the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-funded project report on ways to enhance calf health through the cold winter months in Northern NY.

Cloning High Sugar Maple Trees the Focus of Northern NY Research Project

Northern N.Y.; February 2018.  The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has posted the first results of a project evaluating the opportunity to clone high sugar maple trees. The long-term goal is to produce rooted “sweet tree” clones that maple producers can plant to enhance their sugarmaking operations. The report is available at www.nnyagdev.org.

Cornell University plant pathologist Keith L. Perry conducted the research in collaboration with Joe Orefice, director of the Cornell Uilhein Maple Research Forest in Lake Placid, NY.

“If producers can plant and harvest from trees with naturally higher sugar sap concentrations, productivity would increase and costs would decrease. If we can clonally propagate what are known as ‘sweet trees,’ there would be an opportunity to establish a nursery crop industry as well,” says Perry.

The concentration of sugar in the sap of maple trees varies year-to-year, by environment, planting site, and the genetics of individual trees. Research by the U.S. Forest Service and Cornell University has identified high sugar-producing trees in New York and Pennsylvania; the University of Guelph has done likewise in Ontario, Canada.

In 2016, Perry visited the University of Guelph laboratory that successfully established buds from a high sugar-producing mother tree in vitro in sterile media. This is the first step toward clonally propagating maple trees with any desired trait, including high sugar concentration.

In April 2017, Perry and Orefice measured late season sugar concentrations in maple trees tapped at the Uihlein Maple Research Station and took cuttings from the higher sugar trees. A total of 433 buds were removed from the cuttings, surface-sterilized, and put onto sterile tissue culture media in the laboratory at the Cornell Uihlein Foundation Seed Potato Farm, directed by Perry.

As of December 31, 2017, three buds, representing three separate clonal lines, were alive and growing well. The researchers divided them into a total of seven plants.

The lessons learned so far about how to improve bud collection to enhance survivability have been identified for use in 2018 to establish additional plant lines from other high sugar trees.

“As an outcome of the investment of the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program in this innovative research, support to continue the work in 2018 is being made available through the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University,” Perry noted.

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. Project results are posted online at www.nnyagdev.org.

Northern N.Y.  Two farm tours and a workshop in March will showcase season extension vegetable production, including the results of research funded by the farmer-driven with funding support from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program serving Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties. The tours, organized by Cornell Cooperative Extension, will visit growers known for their success with winter season production of fresh produce.

A Monday, March 5 tour at Pleasant Valley Farm, owned by Paul and Sandy Arnold in Argyle, NY, will be available by pre-registration only. Paul, Sandy and Kim Arnold will talk with tour visitors about how they grow winter vegetables with little to no heat in their high tunnels. The Arnolds have been selling winter-grown produce at markets since 2006. They have used low tunnels since 1993. Visitors will see tunnels in full production. Tour organizer Amy Ivy, a regional vegetable specialist with the Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program, says, “The Arnolds run one of the best known winter growing operations in New York State.”

Space is limited for the free March 5 tour; preference will be given to commercial growers and would-be growers in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties. Register at https://enych.cce.cornell.edu/event.php?id=904 or contact Amy Ivy at adi2@cornell.edu, 518-570-5991.

On Saturday, March 24, Ivy will lead a “Growing Vegetables to Sell in Northern New York” workshop for those already commercially growing vegetables and those considering expanding their vegetable production to commercial scale. She will focus on growing vegetables in the spring and fall seasons in spite of the cold climate of Northern New York. The discussion will include using high and low tunnels and row covers.

This free 10 am to 12 pm workshop will be held at Colwell’s Farm Market and Garden Center in Glenfield, NY. Registration is required by March 21. Signup online at https://reg.cce.cornell.edu/GrowingVegetables_223 or contact Mellissa Spence at Cornell Cooperative Extension Lewis County at mms427@cornell.edu, 315-376-5270.

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.

Find NNY horticultural research projects information under the Horticulture tab on this website.

Northern N.Y.  The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has posted its annual report at www.nnyagdev.org. The four-page report notes how recent research is helping regional farmers respond to hot and cold climate extremes impacting dairy calves and cows, field crops, and wine grapes. Also highlighted are projects addressing:
. the first-ever Northern New York bee colony health survey

. recently emerging crop pests, such as Western bean cutworm

. season extension and new product opportunities for the NNY maple industry, and

. field trials demonstrating how tomato growers can save time.

Farmer comments in the report indicate how applying the results of the research funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program benefitted their business from reducing costs and making it easier to plant and harvest crops to identifying ways to develop extra income using existing resources.

Cornell University Nutrient Management Program Director Dr. Quirine M. Ketterings is cited in the report crediting the farmers and farm advisers in Northern New York as “the frontrunners” prompting re-evaluation of the Cornell corn production guidelines. The farmers who prioritize and select projects for Northern New York Agricultural Development Program funding requested research into how advances in corn breeding and production practices are impacting crop yield and whether it was time to update the associated nitrogen application guidelines for agronomic and economic efficiency.

The report notes that over a three-year study, completed in 2017, one-third of NNY fields tested in the project yielded less than 90 percent of their expected potential while 26 percent yielded more than 110 percent of their expected yield. This research enters Phase 2 in 2018.

A brief section in the report points to multi-state interest in the biocontrol crop pest solution built by the long-term commitment of the farmers of the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program to developing the science needed to manage the devastating alfalfa snout beetle.

A one-application treatment with native NY nematodes, combined with successively-bred, increasingly alfalfa snout beetle-resistant varieties of alfalfa, has restored production of the important dairy forage crop. This biocontrol has shown promise for controlling pests in other field crops and berries and is now being evaluated in field trials in elsewhere in New York State and in New Mexico, Texas, Ohio, and Michigan.

Posted with the annual report are summaries of maple, horticultural, and dairy and field crops-related projects funded by the NNYADP.

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.

Link to NNYADP Annual Report