February 27, 2015: NNYADP Posts Economic Impact Report
Link to press release as pdf

The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has posted the economic impact report for its 2014 projects at www.nnyagdev.org. The program serves Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties with farmer-selected agricultural research and technical assistance projects.

Twenty-nine NNYADP–funded projects in 2014 included research focused on dairy and field crops production, crop and livestock pest and disease management, agricultural environmental management, beef production and marketing, and fruit and vegetable production.

One NNYADP project showed promise of protecting strawberry crops with the application of the successful biocontrol treatment developed by Cornell entomologist Elson Shields, at left, with NNYADP funding to manage a highly-destructive alfalfa pest. The participating berry grower was suffering up to $30,000/year in economic loss to two types of weevils.

Shields’ protocol for using native NY nematodes to reduce alfalfa snout beetle that can destroy entire crops in one growing season was applied to nearly 10,000 acres of alfalfa in 2014, extending its value to dairy, livestock and cash crop farmers.

In a separate NNYADP project, Cornell researchers are gaining ground in selectively breeding alfalfa snout beetle-resistant alfalfa varieties. Alfalfa is valued by the dairy industry at $135/ton for milk production.

Corn and soybean growers in Northern New York and elsewhere in the state are welcoming the results of the NNYADP Corn & Soybean Disease Diagnosis and Assessment. Results are alerting farmers to react quickly newly-emerging and perennial crop problems. The regional corn and soybean industry is valued at $106.91 million.

NNYADP-funded research conducted by the Quality Milk Production Services Lab in Canton has begun identifying mastitis-causing contagions that appear to be becoming a new challenge to the $486.9 million dairy industry of NNY.

A 44 cents per cow per day gain in income over feed costs was the estimated benefit of the NNYADP project evaluating regional options for cost-effective, lower-starch feed options to replace corn in the dairy cow diet. This project was conducted by W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy.

Dairy and field crops projects in 2014 produced insights on how dairy operators can boost forage quality, feed digestibility, fiber balance, and the resulting milk per acre gain in production when that forage is fed to dairy cows. For example, participating farms saw more than a 110 percent gain in crop yield on eight fields in the research trials evaluating field-by-field nutrient use. The return in efficiently grown corn crops is expected to return as much as $4.15 per bushel in 2015.

The NNYADP economic report notes that one Northern NY dairy farmer who worked with crop advisor to implement the Adapt-N software that identified the level of nitrogen needed to grow corn estimates he saved $20,000 in fertilizer that was not needed.

The small livestock farmers who help drive the NNYADP asked for assistance in controlling a parasite that is a cause of high mortality in sheep and goats. On-farm NNYADP research conducted in 2014 is identifying strategies that work and treatments that are not effective for the NNY small livestock industry valued in excess of $679,000.

One of the NNYADP fruit and vegetable projects in 2014 evaluated opportunities for high tunnel growers to extend their revenue opportunities with high value crops, including $8/lb basil, $16/lb ginger, and $3.50/lb. beans.

Vegetable growers are benefiting from NNYADP research and outreach on how to cope with leaf mold that impacts greenhouse and high tunnel production of tomatoes as a high value retail crop valued at an average of nearly $3500/acre according to the NNYADP economic impact report.

Precision apple orchard management work is improving fruit quality and harvest opportunities for the $16 million Northern New York apple industry.

NNYADP funds established the first Juneberry genetics nursery in New York State in Willsboro as the go-to research center for the ‘superfruit’ high in both nutritional value and consumer interest. The NNYADP report cites a pint of Juneberries retails for 20 percent more than a pint of blueberries

The NNYADP economic reports and project results are posted online at www.nnyagdev.org. Click on the boxes to the right on the home page for Economic Reports and Success Stories. Click on individual headings at the top of the page to find research reports in your interest area: Dairy, Crops, Livestock, Local Foods/Horticulture, Maple, and Bio-Energy.

 

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is among the priority programs that NY Farm Bureau (NYFB) is encouraging State legislators to fund in the 2015-16 State Budget. NYFB recently sent a notice listing 13 of 35 programs it supports; NNYADP is on the longer list that advocates will be presenting in Albany on March 2-3.

On Monday, February 23, NYFB issued a call for support for NNYADP and other organizations not in the earlier mailing. The following link was provided in that email for expressing your support for funding renewal for NNYADP.

http://capwiz.com/nyfb/issues/alert/?alertid=64154016&type=ST&show_alert=1

Extension Dairy Performance Management Workshops: Feb. 18 in Malone, Feb. 19 in Canton

Cornell Cooperative Extension will present 10am-3pm workshops on performance management for dairy operators on Wednesday, February 18 in Malone and Thursday, February 19 in Canton. The workshops are targeted to dairy owners interested in learning more about leadership styles and qualities and how to put them to work to attract the right employees.

Presenters are Tom Mahoney with the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University and University of Vermont Professor Emeritus Rick LeVitre, who is now executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension Franklin County.

Workshop participants will discuss how to prepare a job description to attract the desired workers as well as techniques for documenting and positively disciplining problem employees. An Employee Handbook authored by Mahoney will be available for $7.

The Malone workshop will be held at the 911 Emergency Services Building on Bare Hill Road; the Canton workshop will be at the St. Lawrence County Extension Learning Farm.

The workshop fee includes lunch and is $30/person; details and registration are online at https://reg.cce.cornell.edu/Dairy_216. For more information, contact NNY Dairy Specialist Kim Morrill at 315-379-9192, kmm434@cornell.edu or Rick LeVitre at 518-483-7403,rlevitre@cornell.edu.

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is inviting North Country farmers to hear the results of its latest projects at its annual meetings in eastern NNY on February 27 in Chazy. The research reports sessions begin at 1pm at Miner Institute in Chazy. Registration is not required to attend.

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is a farmer-driven research and technical assistance program serving all sectors of the agricultural industry, from dairy and crops to livestock, maple and horticultural production, in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.

‘The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is noted for producing real-world, practical results, and the 2014 project reports live up to that expectation,’ says Program Co-Chair Jon Greenwood, a dairy producer in St. Lawrence County.

‘Northern New York Agricultural Development Program small grants connect North Country farmers with faculty, researchers, and specialists with Cornell University, Cornell Cooperative Extension, the State University of New York, W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute, and other expertise to address critical needs and emerging opportunities,’ says NNYADP Co-Chair Joe Giroux, a Clinton County dairyman.

Reports at the meetings will cover:
. emerging corn and soybean diseases
. the identification of mastitis-causing pathogens
. corn grain variety trials under Northern New York growing conditions
. evaluating alfalfa-grass mixes for dairy and livestock forage
. production practices for the Juneberry superfruit
. health management for sheep and goats, and
. how the inexpensive biocontrol developed with long-term NNYADP funding to beat back the highly-destructive alfalfa snout beetle now holds promise for helping fruit and vegetable growers statewide.

One of the acclaimed Northern New York Agricultural Development Program successes came through long-term funding that provided the time needed for Cornell University researchers to develop an inexpensive, biocontrol treatment that is now substantially reducing the impact of the highly-destructive alfalfa snout beetle. The concept of using native nematodes that destroy the larvae of the beetle is now being applied in trials to reduce other types of pests in strawberry crops in Northern New York, in apple and grape crops elsewhere in the state, and at the Battle Island Golf Course in Fulton, NY.

As time allows, the meeting may also make note of recent NNYADP projects focused on winter forage crops production for the dairy and livestock industries; enhancing agricultural environmental stewardship through tile drainage, nutrient recycling, and on-farm water quality; adapting to climate change; enhancing market opportunities for North Country beef producers; and season extension for fruit and vegetable growers.

Complete research reports are posted on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website at www.nnyagdev.org. For more details on the annual meetings, call 315-376-5270.

According to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, 4,365 farms manage more than 1.1 million acres of farmland with a hired labor payroll of more than $67.2 million. Those numbers represent a gain of 97 farms, 64,487 acres, and $15 million in payroll since the 2007 Census.

Photo:
Northern New York Agricultural Development Program Co-Chair Jon Greenwood, a St. Lawrence County dairy owner, 2^nd from left, and NNYADP Coordinator Margaret E. Smith, a Cornell University professor of plant breeding and genetics, 2^nd from right, welcomed legislative representatives to the 2014 annual meeting of the farmer-driven NNYADP: left to right are Brian Peck with the office NYS Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush, NYS Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell, and Michael Schenk with the office of NYS Senator Patty Ritchie.

The December issue of Cornell’s What’s Cropping Up? newsletter includes an article by Jaime A. Cummings and Gary C. Bergstrom of the School of Integrative Plant Science.

The article: Resistance to Brown Stem Rot May Be Needed in Future Soybean Varieties for New York State notes the funding support of the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program for a survey of corn and soybean diseases in the NNY region in 2013-2014.

The opening paragraph follows. Please click on this link to read entire article

A potentially yield-reducing disease called ‘brown stem rot’ (BSR) was confirmed for the first time in New York soybean fields in 2013, and was found again in 2014. It showed up in some plants from soybean fields in Cayuga, Herkimer, Niagara, and Yates Counties collected by Cornell Cooperative Extension Educators Kevin Ganoe, Keith Severson, Michael Stanyard, and Bill Verbeten, with support from the New York Soybean Check-off Program. The disease was diagnosed in the Field Crops Pathology Laboratory at Cornell based on characteristic symptoms and the laboratory isolation of the causal fungus and confirmation of a portion of its signature DNA sequence. So far, BSR has not been detected outside of the four counties mentioned above. It is noteworthy that BSR was not detected in soybean fields in northern New York scouted in 2013 and 2014 by CCE Educators Michael Hunter and Kitty O’Neil, with support from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program.

Click here for NNYADP-funded Creating a NNY Corn and Soybean Disease Diagnosis and Assessment Database Project and the discovery of Northern Stem Canker in 7 counties in New York State, including one in NNY