Search Results for: extension

November 5, 2024. The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) has released the preliminary results of an evaluation of a new orchard thinning product that may help apple growers overcome challenging temperatures. The region’s cool spring temperatures can interfere with an orchard’s ability to reach optimal crop load that drives yield and income opportunity.

Northern New York’s apple growers are in search of alternative methods of thinning their crop, particularly after seeing poor results with some traditional thinners in the 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022 seasons, leading to small fruit size in some varieties and poor return bloom of Honeycrisp, one of the region’s most economically valuable apple varieties, in 2019 and 2021.

Apple growers periodically thin a portion of the blossoms or young fruitlets from their trees to support optimal crop lead for improved apple size and quality at harvest. Tree Fruit Specialist Michael Basedow, with Cornell Cooperative Extension, notes, “Thinning at traditional spring timings is particularly challenging in Northern New York as thinning treatments are heavily driven by, and temperatures here are often too cool for good thinning efficacy.”

An additional challenge is that once the apples reach a size larger than 24 millimeters, the fruit is unresponsive to standard thinning materials and substantial hand-thinning labor becomes necessary or cost-prohibitive.

When a new thinning product was announced with the potential to work under Northern New York’s often cooler temperatures, Basedow proposed orchard trials for 2023. The trials received funding from the farmer-driven NNYADP.

“The questions to be answered are could this new product be a more reliable material for growers to use during the late window of time before fruit becomes unresponsive to thinning, and how much efficacy could we expect compared to thinning with traditional materials at bloom, petal fall, and fruit set,” Basedow explains.

Orchards in Chazy and Peru, New York, participated in the first-year trials. Four different thinning treatments were applied to three varieties of apple: Gala, Honeycrisp, and Macoun.

First-Year Results Varied by Location and Variety
Results varied by location and variety. In some cases, no difference among the treatments was seen in the number of Gale or Honeycrisp fruit per tree or yield, suggesting the new product could potentially be used in place of some other thinners if weather is not cooperative at the earlier thinning timings.

A significant increase in Gala fruit size was measured in one Gala treatment when the trees were thinned at petal fall, 12 mm, and with the new product under evaluation at 20mm. At another site, significant differences were recorded in Macoun fruit number per tree and yield with the new product, but no significant gain in fruit size or color, while the use of the product at another site improved Honeycrisp fruit color.

A mid-May freeze impacted the research results in at least one orchard where the extreme temperature lasted four hours.

“As a first-year evaluation, mixed results are often the case and backstop the need for trials in multiple years under varying conditions. More data will be added before any conclusions can be made,” Basedow says.

The impact on return bloom will be reported with the 2024 harvest data in the second-year research results report expected early in 2025. The report will be posted at www.nnyagdev.org.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

 

NNYADP-Funded Research Trials Evaluating Farmers’ Fall Planting Questions

September 6, 2024.  Research funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) is addressing challenges raised by a regional focus group interested in the potential benefits of fall-planted cover crops.

“The focus group of regional farmers and agribusinesses expressed a need to identify cover crop varieties that will establish well specifically in northern New York’s colder soil and have increased winter season hardiness after a late fall planting in the region,” said project leader Dr. Virginia Moore, Ph.D., of the Cornell University School of Integrative Plant Science, Ithaca, New York.

Since the fall season of 2022, with NNYADP grant support, Dr. Moore and Dr. Julie L. Hansen, Ph.D., a plant breeding and genetics specialist with Cornell University, have been collecting data from cover crop trials on working dairy and vegetable farms in Clinton and Lewis counties, at Miner Institute in Chazy, the Willsboro Research Farm, and the Cornell Cooperative Extension Learning Farm in St. Lawrence County.

Fall-planted cover crops help reduce soil erosion and nutrient runoff, filter surface and ground water, add organic matter to the soil, reduce weeds and pests, and sequester carbon in the soil. However, Northern New York’s short growing season, climate conditions, and at times wet soil conditions pose barriers to the regional adoption of fall-planted cover crops.

The cover crop being evaluated is cereal rye. Dr. Hansen explains, “Cereal rye is the most common cover crop due to its unparalleled biomass production, weed suppression, and growth under colder climate conditions.”

The data being collected from the NNYADP cereal rye research plantings include soil composition, seedling emergence after various planting dates, winter survival, plant vigor, growth, the biomass of the cereal rye crop, and the weed pressure in the plots.

The fall planting dates in the trials across two year have ranged from September 25^th to November 6^th.

The Northern New York farmers participating in the trials will be surveyed in 2025 for feedback on results to date. Project collaborators include Happy Haven Farm in Mooers, New York; Dyer Farms in Plattsburgh, New York; Pominville Farms in Croghan, New York; Cornell University field crops; soils and dairy specialists; and personnel with the Soil and Water Conservation Districts in Clinton and Lewis counties.

Additional research is underway at breeding nurseries initiated at the Willsboro Research Farm, the Homer C. Thompson Vegetable Research Farm in Freeville, New York, and at the University of Minnesota: St. Paul. At those sites, Dr. Moore and Ph.D. student Raksha Thapa are selectively breeding cereal rye varieties with improved ability to emerge in colder soils and to produce sufficient biomass when planted in late fall. The crop populations at the breeding nursery sites are crosses of northern-adapted cereal rye varieties and southern-adapted and alleopathic breeding lines of cereal rye.

The NNYADP trial data are provided to a national Cover Crop Breeding Network, led by Dr. Moore, to broaden national-level field-based knowledge in support of cover crop improvement.

The 2022 and 2023 project reports for this cover crop research are publicly accessible at www.nyyagdev.org.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated through the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Click here to read the 2023 NNYADP cereal rye cover crop trials report

Willsboro, New York; August 7, 2024.  The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) has published production data and enterprise budgets analyzing melons as an alternative crop for farms with high tunnels. This research is one of NNYADP’s horticultural projects evaluating opportunities to diversify crop options for spring-to-fall season extension and year-round local foods production.

Regional Vegetable Specialist Elisabeth Hodgdon, Ph.D., and Agricultural Business Development and Marketing Specialist Lindsey Pashow with Cornell University compared the use of two vertical trellising systems – a double leader system and a mesh netting system – to untrellised production in a 30-foot by 96-foot unheated high tunnel. The trial was hosted at the Willsboro Research Farm in Willsboro, New York.

Two varieties of miniature muskmelon, “Sugar Cube” and “Tasty Bites,” were grown using each system and organic production methods, including the use of pest exclusive netting and beneficial insects, including bumblebees, parasitoid wasps, and ladybeetles.

A May 18^th frost stunted the first planting. After reseeding, transplants were moved to the high tunnel on July 6, 2023. The melons on the trellising systems were pruned and clipped for six weeks until they reached the high tunnel rafters in late August.

The melons were harvested two to three times per week beginning in early September and harvest continued until the first fall frost on October 30^th. Marketable yield ranged from four to six marketable fruit with weights ranging from 7.28 pounds to 9.51 pounds per plant.

“Plants harvested in the untrellised system were harvested slightly earlier than with the trellising treatments, which can be beneficial to farms interested in being the first to market with a particular crop,” Pashow noted.

Six enterprise budgets were calculated to identify gross and net income for each variety grown under each of the three systems. Total market weight, yield, and unmarketable melon numbers were all considered in calculating income opportunity. The income potential was compared with the income estimates in studies by Pennsylvania State University and Iowa State University for the popular high tunnel-grown crops of tomatoes and cucumbers.

The net income range of $1,184.43 to $2,835.66 calculated for the melon production systems in northern New York was compared with rough net income potential in studies by Pennsylvania State University and Iowa State University for the popular high tunnel crops of tomatoes ($1,374.00) and cucumbers ($2,550.00).

“While our data suggests that melons likely will not replace tomatoes and cucumbers in a high tunnel system, they may be a valuable addition to a farm’s high tunnel cropping plan. Growers must compare the various aspects of the data from this trial and decide whether the addition of melon production is a good fit for their farm,” Dr. Hodgdon said.

Willsboro Research Farm Manager Michael H. Davis, Ph.D., and Cornell Vegetable Specialist Judson Reid collaborated on the project; program aide Jennifer Stanton assisted with harvest and trial data collection. Click here to read the complete report for this project.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

New York State Assemblyman Billy Jones, a member of the NYS Assembly Agriculture Committee, and a steadfast advocate for New York agriculture and for funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) stopped by the NNYADP table at the Rural Resource Fair today in the Well of the Legislative Office Building in Albany. He was welcomed by NNYADP Coordinator Michelle Ledoux, left, and Mellissa Spence with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County. The Northern New York region includes Lewis, Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties.

The NNYADP thanks NYS Senate Agriculture Committee Members Senators Rachel May and Angelo Santabarbara for their invitation to attend the 2024 Rural Resource Fair in Albany.

Update: Thank you to all who attended!

Research focused on growing the tree syrup industry in Northern New York will be among the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) research update presentations on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, at the Joseph C. Burke Education and Research Center at Miner Institute, 586 Ridge Road, Chazy, NY.   The meeting to be held from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. is free to attend; however, registration is requested by contacting Cornell Cooperative Extension at 315-376-5270.

Uihlein Maple Research Forest Director Adam Wild from Lake Placid, New York, will share information on how a warming climate creates new challenges for sugarmakers and how tapping into other-than-maple tree species for syrup production can increase maple producers and landowners’ economic potential.

Wild notes, “Maple production in Northern New York has increased in recent years in part due to increasing demand, research, and equipment innovations. Beyond maple, tapping into other tree syrups can increase landowners’ economic potential.

Other presentations will focus on dairy sustainability; the importance of whole farm nutrient mass balance and managing greenhouse gas emissions; and the use of technology, including satellites, for stabilizing crop yield.

At the Chazy meeting, Willsboro Farm Manager Michael H. Davis, Ph.D. will present an update on NNYADP-funded trials of specialty fruit and nut crops for northern New York growers. Miner Institute Research Scientist Laura Klaiber will be sharing a summary of ten years of farm tile drainage and water quality research in the Lake Champlain watershed.

Research funded by the farmer-driven NNYADP is progressively building real-world, field-tested, data-based foundations that help agricultural producers across the six-county northern region of New York and statewide to manage and adapt to the complex mix of factors that influences farm sustainability and agricultural environmental stewardship.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Learn more at www.nnyagdev.org.