Field Crops

Corn is a major field crop in New York state with more than 1 million acres planted annually. Typically, grain corn (including dry-shelled and high-moisture) represents 55% of the acreage, whereas corn silage represents the remaining 45%.

The centerpiece of New York state agriculture is dairy farming, and the base for this industry is forage crops. Northeast livestock farmers must be able to manage a profitable business that is also sustainable in terms of environmental stewardship, and forage-livestock systems can have a positive impact on sustainable agriculture.

Small grains, which include winter and spring wheat, winter and spring barley, oats, and rye, play an important role in crop rotations on many New York farms. Under good soil conditions and management practices, small grains can produce profitable yields of grain for the cash market or farm feeding.

Acreage of soybeans in New York continues to increase, not just in the traditional district at the head of the Finger Lakes, but throughout the state. Although soybeans are not difficult to grow, buyers are discriminating about seed quality, so producers must learn to harvest and handle the crop with skill and care.

The NYS IMP Program helps you deal with pests—with the weeds, insects, and plant diseases that infest your crops, and the mites, ticks, flies, and lice that plague your livestock. Their research, workshops, demonstrations, and publications help you find answers to problems new and old.

Interest in soil health practices such as reducing tillage, planting cover crops, and using organic amendments has expanded greatly in recent years, yet barriers to adoption persist. The NY Soil Health project facilitates collaboration among the many on-going efforts across the state to implement research, outreach, and policy solutions to address these barriers to adoption.