Tag Archives: 2019

FSA emergency assistance available for April 2019 extreme flooding events

Farm operators in NY, MA, PA, and VT who were impacted by April 2019 extreme flooding events are eligible for emergency FSA assistance until September 2020.

USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue recently designated 43 New York Counties as natural disaster areas, along with contiguous counties affected in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Vermont, for two extreme rainfall events that occurred during the 2019 growing season.

Click here to view the official disaster declaration sent to Governor Cuomo from Secretary Purdue

Farm operators in designated primary counties, and contiguous counties, may be eligible for certain Farm Service Agency (FSA) assistance, including emergency loans, but there is an eight-month window in which farm operators can apply.

Secretary Purdue noted that “FSA considers each emergency loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of production losses on the farm and the security and repayment ability of the operator.”

Local FSA offices

Contact your local FSA office for more information. Click here for locations.

Spring 2019 Rainwise updates

Rainwise Inc. and NEWA continue to build on a partnership that began over 15 years ago. Read this article to see what Rainwise can offer NEWA growers in 2019.

Benefits of linking a weather station to NEWA

The Network for Environment and Weather Applications (NEWA) is part of the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program (NYSIPM) at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, NY. NEWA is a collection of online insect pest and plant disease management tools built to provide growers with short-term crop risk assessments. Each tool or resource uses real-time weather data streamed from 600+ weather stations across the Northeast, Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic United States and can be accessed at newa.cornell.edu.

Rainwise featured products and services

NEWA-compatible weather stations

Rainwise, Inc. offers their flagship model, the MKIII, to customers who want to link with NEWA. Customers connect to their online platform, Rainwise.net, and then send a simple request to the NEWA Help Desk where the onboarding process to http://newa.cornell.edu is completed.

To learn more or purchase a NEWA-compatible AgroMET MKIII flagship weather station, click here.

AgroMET & IP-100 Package

Rainwise.net platform

An AgroMET MKIII purchase includes the following standard features on Rainwise.net:

  • Data feed compatibility
  • Real-time data availability in the Rainwise.net platform.
  • A weather summary page with local forecasts provided by The Weather Company.
  • Basic data downloads in CSV format.
  • Data feed options for Weather Underground, CWOP, PWS Weather, and Weather Flow.

Owners can purchase an optional $60 upgrade to a Pro subscription for $60, which includes the following:

  • Everything listed in standard features.
  • Detailed graph summaries.
  • Data reports.
  • Enhanced download features.
  • Customizable alarms.

Did you know these things about Rainwise?

  • Rainwise, Inc. was the first company to patent the ‘tipping rain gauge’ in 1976. Accurate precipitation measurements are critical for agricultural industries. As of 2019, 90% of all precipitation measurements are gathered in this fashion (Figure 1).
  • In 1981, Rainwise, Inc. invented the first digital weather station for consumers. In 1996, the company invented the first wireless consumer weather station (Figure 2). This was a breakthrough for agricultural applications.
  • Rainwise partners with The Weather Company and IBM to gather microclimate data. Such a partnership strengthens the technology provided to NEWA agricultural users.

figure 1

Figure 1. Rainwise tipping gauge patent circa 1976.

figure 2

Figure 2. Rainwise wireless consumer weather station circa 1996.

Julie Carroll Earns 2019 Excellence in IPM Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media contact: Jennifer Grant | Office: 315-787-2353 | jag7@cornell.edu

For photos: http://nysipm.cornell.edu/about/we-give-awards/2018-excellence-ipm-award-winners/juliet-carroll/

Formidable Fruit Doyenne Earns Excellence in IPM Award

GENEVA NY, March 1, 2019: Dr. Juliet Carroll, Fruit IPM Coordinator, received an Excellence in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Award from the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program (NYSIPM) at the Viticulture day of the B.E.V. (Business, Enology, Viticulture) conference in Rochester. NYSIPM develops sustainable ways to manage pests and helps people to use methods that minimize environmental, health and economic risks. The award honors individuals who encourage the adoption of IPM in their businesses, schools, communities, and farms, and who develop new tools and tactics for sharing these practices.

Vital. Invaluable. These are words used to describe Julie Carroll’s IPM contributions by her colleagues. Carroll spearheaded the expansion of NEWA, a website and network which allows growers to understand how the weather will affect fungal and insect pests, and takes the guess work out of their pest management strategy. Carroll ran NEWA for over a decade. Timothy Weigle credits NEWA’s growth in not only weather stations, but also the number of states participating, to Julie’s guidance. Under her leadership NEWA went from 45 weather stations in New York State to over 500 in 12 states. He notes further that her work on improving the user experience with the grape disease and grape berry moth models on NEWA, along with Wayne Wilcox and Greg Loeb, had an enormous impact on the implementation of grape IPM in New York.

Laura McDermott, Regional Extension Specialist in Hudson Falls, NY, noted Dr. Carroll’s passion for integrating pest management strategies, and called her “a determined perfectionist.”

Carroll also led the development of Trac software. Introduced in the early 2000s, the software simplified and digitized pesticide recordkeeping for large and small growers and processors alike. It allows farmers to input the information once, and generate customized reports for different processors. The software also includes reference to “IPM Elements” for grapes and other crops—a tool that helps growers assess their pest management practices. Grape processors across the state, including Constellation Brands, use TracGrape’s reports for their pesticide reporting requirements. Carroll built Trac software for five fruit crops, and partnered with a colleague to create TracTurfgrass for golf, lawns, sports fields and sod farms.

Luke Haggerty, of Constellation Brands, calls Carroll’s TracGrape software “a true breakthrough” in record keeping. As a Grower Relations rep for Constellation, he relies on information provided by NEWA: “Julie has always been very proactive in developing and delivering the products needed for our growers to produce grapes in an environmentally and economically sustainable way.”

Tim Martinson, Cornell Cooperative Extension Viticulture specialist, noted, “IPM is built on information and decision-making tools. Juliet has built TracGrape and NEWA into useful, practical tools for growers.”

Dr. Carroll also co-edited Organic Production and IPM Guides for grapes and several berry crops, and has regularly presented at Lake Erie Regional Grape Growers’ conferences and Coffee Pot meetings. She has conducted research on devastating pests such as the Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD)—investigating whether hungry hummingbirds can provide meaningful control. Dr. Carroll has also chaired the Northeast IPM SWD working groups for the last decade, bringing research scientists, growers, industry reps, and extension educators from across the region together to help find solutions. Carroll has also helped fruit growers with bird management. Tim Weigle noted that her bird-scaring tactics have saved everyone a lot of money and are more popular than the traditional neighbor-alienating air cannon.

Learn more about Integrated Pest Management at nysipm.cornell.edu.