Nearly 80 farmers, commercial growers, home gardeners and professionals from allied regional agricultural organizations gathered on July 8th at Cornell's Willsboro Research Farm to learn about research aimed at improving agricultural production in Northern New York's challenging growing conditions.
The biennial field day featured a hay wagon tour highlighting research projects at the farm, which is managed by the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station (Cornell AES). Nestled between the Adirondack Mountains and Lake Champlain, the farm provides a scenic setting with growing conditions unique to the region.
Visitors learned about a wide range of ongoing research, including trials by the nutrient management and soil health program led by Harold van Es, which has been relying on the farm’s regionally representative soils and plots with specially designed drainage systems for their research since 1988.
In recent years, specialty fruit and agroforestry variety trials at Willsboro Research Farm have expanded to include chestnuts, hazelnuts and nutrient-dense berries such as honeyberries and aronia berries.
Other tour stops featured:
- Overwintering onions in high and low tunnels
- Cover crops and tomato production in high tunnels
- Winter field pea breeding nursery
- Biochar as a soil amendment
- Crop production network’s corn and alfalfa plots
- Durability of apple scab resistance genes
- Essex County Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardener demonstration garden
The event was organized by farm manager Mike Davis, Cornell AES. Presenters included researchers from Cornell's School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell Cooperative Extension and PRO-DAIRY, as well as from the Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program, the Adirondack North Country Association and the Lake Champlain Basin Program.
The field day provides an opportunity for researchers to share their latest findings with growers and the community. Willsboro Research Farm serves as a hub for improving resilience and profitability for the region's farms.
