Search Results for: extension

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

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.

 

 

Farm Labor to Fireblight: 24 NNYADP-Funded Research Projects Underway in 2018

Northern NY: April 26, 2018.  How labor issues impact Northern New York dairy farms is the focus of one of 24 research projects receiving grant funding through the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program and underway to help regional farmers weather climate extremes and economic challenges, capitalize on growth opportunities, and enhance land and water stewardship. The complete list of funded projects is posted under the About heading at www.nnyagdev.org.

The farm labor evaluation is one of four dairy-focused projects with Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) funding in 2018; the other three are evaluating opportunities to increase milking parlor efficiency, enhance calf health, and help milking cows adjust to hot weather conditions.

Thirteen projects receiving NNYADP grants are designed to benefit field crop production, including through the use of yield monitoring technology to more accurately project corn yield potential and through the commercial-scale farm application of Cornell Soil Health assessment testing.

Researchers supported by Cornell Cooperative Extension field crop specialists in cooperation with local on-farm trial hosts are investigating best management practices that will help regional farmers enhance production, yield and quality gain, pest management, and disease prevention in corn, alfalfa, grass and soybean crops.

One of the 2018 NNYADP-funded projects will add data to a Northeastern U.S. research collaboration focused on enhancing water quality protection. Project leader Dr. Quirine M. Ketterings of the Cornell University Nutrient Management Spear Program is part of a collaboration that is developing new Phosphorus Indexes for seven states. The index helps guide best management practices for manure and purchased nutrient application. Ketterings has credited Northern New York farmers and crop advisers for prompting the updating of a similar resource for nitrogen application guidelines for NY.

Two additional NNYADP-funded agricultural stewardship research projects are focused on the opportunity of tile drainage to improve both crop production and environmental conservation.

With a new NNYADP grant for research in 2018-19, Cornell Maple Program specialists are measuring how the timing of tapping schedules by NNY maple producers impacts maple and birch sap yields.

Northern New York fruit and vegetable growers are participating in projects centered on high tunnel season-extension production, opportunities for new fruit crops that can tolerate localized growing conditions, protecting apple crops from fire blight, and the use of thinning in apple orchards to optimize profitability.

“As a farmer-driven program with producers from all the agricultural sectors that brace the Northern New York economy, the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is able to directly respond to farm-level and industry-level needs and opportunities,” said NNYADP Co-Chair Jon Greenwood, St. Lawrence County.

“The research done in Northern New York has developed groundbreaking solutions that are having far-reaching impact for the entire agricultural industry,” added NNYADP Co-Chair Joe Giroux, Clinton County.

“The localized on-farm research provides insights that apply directly to the challenges we face as Northern New York farmers and help us customize the best science based on our microclimates, soils, and farming practices to sustain and strengthen our agricultural economy,” noted NNYADP Co-Chair, Jon Rulfs, Clinton County.

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.

Willsboro, NY; April 16, 2018:  Growers who are first to market with peppers, tomatoes, and other fresh market vegetables have a distinct advantage. Earlier spring crops, double yields, and the potential for $1390 in added net revenue are among the results noted in the 2017 vegetable production research report posted at www.nnyagdev.org by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program.

A 2017 Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-funded research project led by Cornell Cooperative Extension vegetable specialist Amy Ivy evaluated the time, labor, yield, and income opportunity associated with growing red peppers, cherry tomatoes, and spinach under the growing conditions unique to Northern New York.

Peppers, including new varieties said to be extra-productive, grown inside a high tunnel at the Willsboro Research Farm in Willsboro, NY, averaged 4.98 lbs/plant with first harvest on August 23, extending through November 3. By comparison, field-grown peppers averaged 2.19 lbs/plant with first harvest on September 9 and last harvest before a killing frost on October 17.

In the pepper variety comparison within an unheated high tunnel, one variety yielded earlier in the spring and tapered off, the other yielded later and slightly higher but at a time when market demand was less.

In a comparison of pepper pruning and training systems, one system took less time and yielded a 1.5 lbs-more-per-plant average.

“The peppers clearly benefitted from the protection of a high tunnel, with more than double the production and a significantly earlier first harvest. Harvest timing is an important factor for peak sales and profitability in Northern New York,” Ivy noted.

The NNYADP-funded cherry tomato trial compared three systems for training and pruning cherry tomatoes, known for rampant growth, the managing of which can drain grower efficiency.

“Because labor is the largest expense on most vegetable farms, increasing our understanding of practices that can add production and harvesting efficiency is critical. These trials funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program do that for our regional growers,” Ivy said.

The cherry tomato trial data showed the labor commitment varied by system; for example, for harvesting from 34.8 lbs/hr to 45.1 lbs/hr. Tomato yield by system ranged from 11.3 lbs plant to 15.8 lbs/plant. Average net revenue by system ranged from $39.27 per plant to $55.31 per plant.

“Our calculations determined the system providing the greatest benefits as measured by labor efficiency, yield, and net revenue was a double leader system. A high tunnel with 200 cherry tomato plants could see a possible gain of $1390 in net profit using this system compared to the less intensive multi-leader system,” Ivy noted.

The results of an evaluation of the availability of nitrogen from various sources in cold soils to support winter spinach production will be posted later this spring.

This research supports the increasing demand for fresh market vegetables in Northern New York as evidenced by a new Produce Auction in Franklin County, a food hub project in Jefferson County, and the addition of high tunnels on farms regionwide.

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-funded vegetable research in 2018 includes the high tunnel production of red peppers, green beans, self-fertile zucchini, and winter spinach.

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 in research reports posted on this website.

Cherry Tomato Pruning and Training: High Tunnel Best Management Practices Fact Sheet, 2018

NNY Corn Grain Evaluation Helps Farmers Select Seed, Feed Cows, Sell to Ethanol Producers

Northern N.Y. The evaluation of 103 commercial corn hybrids in trials funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is now posted at www.nnyagdev.org. The trials under localized growing conditions help farmers select the corn hybrids best suited to their soils, agronomic practices, and needs, including use of the corn in a dairy cow diet and for production for sale to ethanol producers.

“Over the past 20 years, corn acres harvested as grain in the six-county Northern New York region have doubled, reflecting availability of hybrids with good yield and adaptation in this shorter-season area. Highly productive grain hybrids that perform in Northern New York allow farmers there to take advantage of corn grain and ethanol markets,” said project leader Dr. Margaret E. Smith, a plant breeding and genetics professor at Cornell University Smith.

Project collaborator Joe Lawrence, a dairy forage specialist with the Cornell University PRO-DAIRY program, “A focus by the seed industry on silage-specific corns has increased the need for independent evaluation of the corns’ traits, particularly to determine their merit in a dairy feeding program.”

Cornell PRO-DAIRY Director Thomas Overton notes, “We use the data from the Northern New York corn hybrid trials, and those conducted elsewhere in New York State, to evaluate how those hybrids will interact in a lactating cow feed ration and how that ration may influence expected cow performance and milk production.”

The 2017 hybrid evaluation trials, planted at the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm in Essex County, W. H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Clinton County, and Greenwood Farm in St. Lawrence County, evaluated 103 hybrids ranging from 80-day to 110-day maturity corns.

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program project report notes that data on yield-to-moisture ratio comprises one of the best guides for selecting hybrids with excellent grain yield and appropriate maturity for Northern New York growing conditions. Grain yield is an important contributor to silage yield and quality and a consideration for farmers interested in selling their corn grain for feed or ethanol production

For silage, collaboration by hybrid evaluation projects across the Northeast, including the trials in Northern New York, continue to focus on key quality parameters’ related to fiber and starch digestibility.

Smith cautions that farmers should select hybrids based on multi-year and multi-location data whenever possible.

“Any hybrid can have a banner year or banner environment, but not necessarily hold up over different locations and growing seasons. Selections are best judged with several years of data under the regionalized growing conditions and the knowledge of one’s own soils, climate, and farm environment,” says Smith.

Multi-year corn hybrid evaluation data are available in the Cornell Guide for Integrated Field Crop Management. For assistance, contact Cornell Cooperative Extension NNY Field Crops Specialists Mike Hunter, 315-788-8602, or Kitty O’Neil, 315-854-1218.

Farmers in Northern New York have harvested an average of 145,000 acres of corn annually for grain and silage over the past four years.

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.

Links to 2017 Corn Hybrids report and tables

Links to multiple years of NNY Corn Grain and Corn Silage trials data