The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) has released a suite of research reports on nutrient management efficiency and on agricultural environmental conservation related to tile drainage. The reports add to the industry knowledge base that helps farms apply efficient use of fertilizer and manure resources and natural resource stewardship practices. The reports are posted at https://www.nnyagdev.org/index.php/2020-nnyadp-projects.
Northern New York dairy and cash grain producers assisted research evaluating the opportunity for all farmers, not just those with yield monitoring devices on field equipment, to use satellite and drone imagery to develop yield estimate maps to enhance zone-based field management efficiency. The estimated yield maps developed by the project in 2020 show promising results for the use of free data layers obtainable by the use of aerial technology.
The NNYADP “Farm-Specific Corn Yield Potentials and Nitrogen and Phosphorus Crop Removal Estimates” project demonstrates how farmers can use farm-specific, multi-year yield tracking data to determine field-specific or soil-type specific corn crop yield potential. The most recent yield potential trials in northern NY notably expanded the data set of yield-per-soil-type analysis to help generate yield potential estimates for soils of critical importance to farms in the region. This regional field data, including data for many unique soils, adds to the ongoing statewide effort to evaluate adjustments in the Cornell equation that incorporates yield potentials to drive nitrogen application guidelines.
Additional research and analysis of data from participating farms by a Cornell University research team, demonstrates the incentive for applying best management practices to fields with the greatest risk of phosphorus loss. This northern New York regional assessment adds data to support the updating of the New York Phosphorus Index as a means of scoring fields for the risk of nutrient loss.
The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has also funded unprecedented agricultural environmental conservation research associated with tile drainage and field crop nutrient use. Miner Institute Nutrient Management Researcher Laura Klaiber is conducting the research that has begun building a foundational understanding of how precision nutrient management an contribute to natural resource and water quality conservation.
The latest NNYADP field drainage project reports summarize on-farm field trial data from year’round edge-of-field runoff studies, and continue evaluation of the long-term agronomic and water quality impacts of tile drainage on cornfields. Klaiber has presented the results of this research to agricultural and natural resource groups in New York and throughout the U.S. Project collaborators include the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and SUNY Plattsburgh.
Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Learn more about NNYADP research related to agricultural environmental conservation, dairy, field crops, livestock, horticulture and maple at https://www.nnyagdev.org.
