It’s March and maple season in Northern New York! Time to welcome people to Maple Weekends at sugarbushes throughout the region. Find three dozen NNY maple producers hosting Open House events March 23-24 and/or March 29-30 at www.mapleweekend.com.

NNY maple producers who serve on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program Maple Sub-Committee are Jen Parker of Parker Family Maple Farm, West Chazy, and Jeremy Youngman in Clinton County; Tony Corwin of South Meadow Farm Lodge and Maple Sugarworks in Lake Placid in Essex County; Dean Yancey of Maple Mountain Sweets in Lowville, and Haskell Yancey of Yancey’s Sugarbush in Croghan in Lewis County; and Jeff Jenness of Orebed Sugar Shack in DeKalb Junction, and Kenneth Tupper of Tupper’s Hilltop Maple Treats in Canton in St. Lawrence County.

The Cornell Uihlein Maple Sugar Research Forest in Lake Placid is open for Maple Weekends.

Learn amore about NNYADP-funded maple research

Paul Smiths and Gouverneur, NY – New York strawberry growers are hearing about a promising treatment for their fruit crop based on a Cornell University entomologist’s success with applying microscopic worms to beat back a highly-destructive alfalfa crop pest. Dr. Elson Shields expects to confirm the success of field trials with native-New York nematodes to control two species of weevils in Northern NY strawberry crops this year.

Strawberry growers interested in learning more about Shields’ research, funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, will have the opportunity to hear him speak on “Using Native Nematodes as Biocontrol of Root Weevils in Strawberries” as part of the 9:30am-2pm Advances in Field Strawberry Production Workshops set for March 4 at Paul Smiths and March 5 at the Cambry Court Activity Center in Gouverneur.

More strawberry grower workshop details

More on strawberry weevil research funded by NNYADP

The Cornell Adapt-N team has announced a new partnership with Agronomic Technology Corporation which will release a new, enhanced version of the Adapt-N tool in the spring of 2014.

Those who actively used Adapt-N during any of the 2011-2013 seasons will be presented with opt-in discounted pricing.

Click here for the latest update notes from the Cornell Adapt-N team.

Is juneberry the next “Superfruit” for Northern New York growers and consumers?

Growing Magazine featured the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program Juneberry establishment project in its January 2014 issue. The article gives a nod to the success of the NNY cold hard grapes program that has had NNYADP support.

Click here for tips on the production of juneberries and more on the work of researcher Dr. Michael Burgess and Willsboro Agricultural Research Farm Manager Dr. Michael Davis to establish New York State’s first Juneberry nursery.

 

Learn more about the new maple syrup grading system in this Watertown Times article by Steve Virkler and Martha Ellen. They talk with NNY Maple Specialist and Uihlein Maple Research Forest Director Michael Farrell, NNY regional maple producers and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County Executive Director Michele Ledoux. The new grading will start in 2015.

Click here to read about Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-funded maple research. The NNY region has a $10 million growth potential for maple syrup production.