The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Healthy soil for healthy crops
Empire Farm Days seminars cover sustainable cropping systems
The New York State Working Group for Improved Soil Health has set its Empire Farm Days Soil Health Center Seminars, demonstrations, and panel discussions for Aug. 9-11 at Rodman Lott and Son Farms in Seneca Falls.
The lead presenters for the seminars are Cornell University specialists Dr. Matthew Ryan, an agroecologist and sustainable cropping systems specialist; Dr. Janice E. Thies, associate professor of Soil Biology and International Professor of Soil Ecology; andPRO-DAIRYDairy Forage Systems Specialist Joe Lawrence.
The program for Tuesday, Aug. 9, is:
. 9:30 a.m.: Cover Crop Interseeding into Corn and Soybean with Dr. Matthew Ryan, Agroecologist and Sustainable Cropping Systems Specialist, Cornell University Soil and Crop Sciences
. 10:30 a.m.: Interseeder and Cover Crops Field Demonstration
. 11:30 a.m.: Interseeding and Cover Crops Farmer Panel.
Ryan, an assistant professor at Cornell University in the Soil and Crop Sciences Section, conducts research on sustainable cropping systems. He works with farmers, students and other scientists to evaluate cropping system performance in terms of crop yield, profitability, environmental impact, and resilience. His current focus is on expanding the utility of cover crops by overcoming obstacles that limit their adoption and developing management practices that maximize their benefits. He also works on conservation agriculture, perennial grains, organic weed management, agroecology, and the role of crop diversity in adapting to extreme weather events.
The program for Wednesday, Aug. 10, is:
• 9:30 a.m.: Soil Biology and Its Impact on Soil Health and Crop Production with Dr. Janice E. Thies, Cornell University
• 10:30 a.m.: Cover crops field demonstration
• 11:30 a.m.: Managing Reduced Tillage and Cover Crops Farmer Panel
• 1:30 p.m.: Precision Ag Seminar with New York Farm Viability Institute.
Thies is an associate professor of Soil Biology and International Professor of Soil Ecology at Cornell University. She has led five international workshops on Soil Molecular Ecology and served as an expert consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the National Institute for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, and the US EPA Scientific Advisory Panel. Her research program in soil ecology focuses on developing, testing, and implementing methods to assess soil biological quality, remediate degraded soils, and improve soil management practices to ensure the long-term sustainability of agricultural ecosystems.
The program for Thursday, Aug. 11, is:
• 9:30 a.m.: Utilizing Winter Grain Cover Crops for Forage with Joe Lawrence, Dairy Forage Systems Specialist, Cornell PRO-DAIRY
• 10:30 a.m.: Cover crops field demonstration
• 11:30 a.m.: Winter Grain Cover Crops for Forage Farmer Panel.
Lawrence has recently joined the Cornell PRODAIRY team as dairy forage systems specialist with a focus on developing an extension program to assist dairy producers with the critical task of providing high quality forages to their dairy herds. After growing up on a dairy farm in northern New York, Lawrence received a degree in Agronomy from SUNY Cobleskill. While completing his master’s degree with the Nutrient Management Spear Program at Cornell Univer- sity, he studied the nitrogen needs of first-year corn and manure incorporation methods for nitrogen conservation. Lawrence takes a whole farm approach to his agronomic work with dairy farms and applies a broad background in dairy agronomic practices.
Lunch will follow each program for participants at 12:30 p.m. at the Soil Health Center building, established in 2015 as a permanent site for soil health programming at the annual event that is the largest outdoor agricultural trade show in the northeastern U.S. Soil scientists at the center will have tabletop demonstrations illustrating how different management practices, such as no-till, conventional and cover cropping, impact soil-water interaction.
The Soil Health Seminar Center is a cooperative effort of the New York State Working Group for Improved Soil Health comprised of USDA-NRCS, conservation districts, state government agencies, educational institutions, the Cornell University Soil Health program, cooperative extension, non-governmental organizations, farmers, private consultants, and agribusinesses working towards developing innovative solutions to improve soil health and raising awareness of soil health concepts by producers and ag service providers.
For more information, contact Paul Salon, Northeast Soil Health Specialist, USDA-NRCS, 607-5628404 ext 103, paul.salon@ ny.usda.gov.
Experience Empire is the theme of the 2016 Empire Farm Days with 300 acres of exhibits, seminars, programs, demonstrations, live animals, and test driving opportunities. Show hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 9 and Wednesday, Aug. 10, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 11. Parking is $10 per vehicle. For daily schedules andmore information, visit empirefarmdays.com or call 877-697-7837.