The Manager - March 2022
New Cornell faculty
Julie Berry
Louis Longchamps and Virginia Moore are new Cornell faculty in the School of Integrative Plant Sciences.
Climate-smart farming tools
Arthur DeGaetano, Kitty O’Neil, and Joe Lawrence
Quickly changing weather conditions and increased variations in weather conditions both within a growing season and from one year to the next make having quick and easy access to the most recent weather data and tools that can assist in applying these weather data to on-farm decisions more important. Cornell’s Climate Smart Farming Program (CSF) Decision Tools (climatesmartfarming.org/) were developed through a partnership between the CSF program and the Northeast Regional Climate Center (NRCC). The NRCC archives and supplies daily temperature observations from the National Weather Service (NWS) and daily precipitation from NWS radar data. These data are interpolated to a 4-km-by-4-km grid allowing farmers in the region to access accurate information for their farm even without a weather station on their site.
Managing diet nutrient variability through improved forage sampling practices
Jorge Barrientos-Blanco, Joe Lawrence, and Kristan Reed
High feed prices and volatility due to market and supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic are restating the importance of maximizing feed use efficiency.
Maximize fertilizer use efficiency for peak fertilizer prices of 2022
Kitty O’Neil, Joe Lawrence, Kirsten Workman, and Quirine Ketterings
Record high fertilizer prices this winter have driven a lot of creative thinking about cost-cutting strategies for 2022. Dairy farmers are at an advantage as manure is a tremendous source of all essential nutrients, and typical rotations of corn and alfalfa/grass result in nutrient and other benefits for corn following sod. But how do we know where cuts in fertilizer are appropriate and where they are not?
Remote sensing to estimate yield of field crops
Sunoj Shajahan, Jerome Cherney, Louis Longchamps, and Quirine Ketterings
Because of greater accessibility and technological advancements in remote sensing and imagery processing, we can now tap into high-resolution and high-frequency imagery. Remotely sensed data will become more useful for farmers over time as we explore the data and learn to estimate and predict yield and forage quality at farm, field, and within-field scales. Stay tuned for advances in yield and quality prediction models for your farm as science develops.
Manure – A valuable nutrient asset
Kirsten Workman, Quirine Ketterings, Joe Lawrence, and Kitty O’Neil
Manure is a valuable source of nutrients and soil-building organic matter. It is always important to manage manure nutrients to maximize availability for crops and minimize environmental losses, but that is especially true this spring as fertilizer prices have skyrocketed. Several strategies and practices can be used on the farm to realize the full value of those manure assets.