February 15, 2008
Contact: NNYADP Program Co-Chairs Jon Greenwood, 315-379-386-3231;
Joe Giroux, 518-563-7523
Note: Page 3 lists all projects, pages 4-6 provide individual project
detail; jpgs are available by request to publicist at
karalynn@gisco.net
NNY Agricultural Development Program Announces 22 Grant Projects for
2008
The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program awarded its 2008
grants for on-farm research projects and education programs for farmers
in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence
counties.
The 22 projects awarded Northern New York Agricultural Development
Program funding range in focus from preventing and treating mastitis in
dairy cows and the enhanced production of biofuels, field crops,
livestock, fruit, and maple products to helping farmers cope with crop
diseases, including brown root rot that was identified in alfalfa and
grass fields in three NNY counties in 2005, and with promising
strategies for controlling such pests as the alfalfa snout beetle.
A full projects list is online at www.nnyagdev.online.
Farmers representing dairy, field crops, horticultural crops, livestock
production, and maple and forestry products select projects for funding
from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program.
The projects are conducted on operating farms across the region by
Cornell University faculty, Cornell Cooperative Extension educators and
other agricultural professionals. Studies are also done at the W.H.
Miner Agricultural Research Institute at Chazy, the Cornell Uihlein
Maple Research Farm near Lake Placid, the Cornell E.V. Baker
Agricultural Research Farm in Willsboro, and the Cornell Cooperative
Extension of St. Lawrence County Learning Farm in Canton.
Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is
made possible by a Legislative appropriation through the New York State
Senate and the long-term support of Senator Elizabeth Little and Senator
James Wright who recently left office for a private sector position and
by support from legislative representatives regionwide and New York
State Agriculture Committee leaders Senator Catherine Young and
Assemblyman William Magee.
Dairymen Jon Greenwood of Canton and Joe Giroux of Plattsburgh co-chair
the program. They note that the diverse soils and micro-climates in
Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties
create unique challenges and opportunities for farmers.
Greenwood says, �Keeping agriculture strong in this region is critical
to our rural economy. The results of Northern New York Agricultural
Development Program research projects have equipped regional farmers
with information and tools to strengthen the dairy industry that has
long been the backbone of agriculture in this region and to enhance the
diverse agricultural enterprises that are now developing in Northern New
York.�
Greenwood points out the breakthrough in controlling alfalfa snout
beetle and steps toward reducing the levels of Klebsiella mastitis on
dairy farms as just two examples of the practical, real-world value of
the applied research conducted on regional farms.
Program Co-Chair Joe Giroux says, �The projects funded by the Northern
New York Agricultural Development Program are enhancing farm
productivity and profitability in the six-county region while at the
same time protecting our soil, water and other environmental resources.
The projects we fund help us to act quickly to begin dealing with new
diseases such as brown root rot that affects alfalfa and grass crops and
to develop the science that will help us manage new farm-based
enterprises such as biofuel crop production.�
Project results are delivered to farmers via workshops, hands-on
training, fact sheets, media and a website at
www.nnyagdev.org. # # #
Click here for the Projects Receiving Funding for 2008
Click here for More Info on each 2008 NNYADP-funded Project
