ANNOUNCEMENTS CCE Communication Coordinator --- Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) Administration is searching for a Communication Coordinator. Through effective communication of CCE's mission, goals, priorities, needs, and accomplishments, the person in this position will work with the Chair of the CCE Communications Team to foster participation in, advocacy for, and community and political support of the extension mission of Cornell University. Details are on line at: click here under "Staff (non-academic) and Librarian Positions". The position number is 06032. This position will be posted until 10/20/2006 or until an acceptable pool of applicants has been identified.
Please help us recruit for this vital position in CCE Administration by considering the position and sharing information with others who might be interested and qualified. All applications must be submitted on-line. Feel free to contact Barbara Eshelman (bje1 or 607-255-0787) or Connie Kan (ck236 or 607-255-0789) if you have further questions.
SEMINARS, CONFERENCES & WORKSHOPS Agribusiness Economic Outlook Conference: Featuring Opportunities for Renewable Energy December 5, 2006
The 2005 Agribusiness Economic Outlook Conference will be at the Call Alumni Auditorium, Kennedy Hall on the Cornell Campus.
The morning session will include discussions on: (1) Current Situation and Outlook for the National Economy (2) Opportunities for Renewable Energy
Afternoon concurrent sessions will include discussions on:
Session I: (1) Outlook for Feed Grains, (2) Outlook for Dairy Markets and Policy (3) Dairy Farm Management Factors Affecting Profitability of Large Dairy Farms
Session II: (1) Fruit, Grape and Wine Situation and Outlook, (2) Vegetable and Ornamental Situation and Outlook, (3) Research Update: "Metropolitan Growth and Specialty Crops Agriculture in the Northeast: Farming in the City's Shadow"
For agenda and registration information please see the Applied Economics and Management website at: click here
INFORMATION
NYFVI-Funded High Tunnel Project Offers Growers High Hope of Profitability---- Extending the growing and selling seasons by as much as 10 weeks is the focus of a high tunnel project funded by the New York Farm Viability Institute, Inc. Researchers suggest the use of high tunnels by New York growers will increase over the next four years with a resulting gain of $500,000 per year to the farm-gate value of NY horticultural crops.
High tunnels are unheated greenhouses. The structures protect crops from frost damage for earlier spring growth and later fall harvest. The tunnels can be four or five degrees warmer than outside temperatures. Growers use inexpensive irrigation systems to control moisture and humidity which helps reduce disease and insect problems.
Project leader Hans C. Wien, a Cornell University horticulture professor, says, we want something simple and cost-effective that will produce profitable crops. High tunnels have been used for many years in China, Japan and Korea. We believe growers in New York can successfully put plants out in mid-April and grow until mid-November.
Judson Reid with the Cornell Vegetable Program and CCE of Yates County says producer interest in high tunnels has been steadily growing due to strong production data. Data from 2004 and 2005 shows high tunnels can produce 15 to 20 pounds of saleable tomatoes per plant and an average of 6-and-a-half pounds per plant of bell peppers. Tomatoes are well-suited to high tunnel production but soil needs to recover from repeated tomato crops, so project participants are looking at the agronomic and economic feasibility of growing crops such as peppers, cucumbers and berries in high tunnels. Reid says this project will evaluate the potential of cucumbers as a new product for extended season sales to local markets, wholesalers and through the Finger Lakes Produce Auction.
In Delaware County, CCE Educator Janet Aldrich is working with a small-scale grower who will compare raspberries grown in half of a high tunnel with a crop of field-grown raspberries. Aldrich says high tunnels provide the protection the crops need to grow high quality fruit with lower inputs. New York growers can use high tunnels to produce high-end crops that will add to their bottom line through extended fresh local market sales and value-added processing. Walter Nelson with CCE of Chemung County will evaluate the economics of high tunnel production. Nelson says yield and input data versus average market prices yet to come from 2006 trials will help evaluate the opportunity for profitability with a variety of high tunnel crops, including tomatoes, cucumbers, sunflowers and other cut flowers.
In Tioga County, Molly Shaw of Cornell Cooperative Extension is working with a grower with a high tunnel equipped with heat and electrical hookups that allow him to set out tomatoes as early as February. Shaw is also working with a Schuyler County grower using a medium-height tunnel to protect raspberries from fall frost during the harvest season. In Yates County, grower Howard Hoover makes 25-foot-square high tunnel frames that four people can pickup to move away from any soil problems or diseases.
Another feature of this project is the testing of different high tunnel cover materials and cover coatings at Penn States high tunnel farm in University Park, PA. Professors Mike Orzolek and Bill Lamont are growing bell peppers and sunflowers and closely monitoring temperatures and light in four high tunnels with new plastics that may offer additional protection to plants in the unheated structures. New York growers will compare high tunnel cover treatments in 2007. Testing of ground cover treatments and low tunnels is taking place at Cornell.
Cornell University specialists advising the project also include Biological and Environmental Engineering Professor Louis D. Albright; Horticulture Professor Marvin P. Pritts; and Applied Economics and Management specialist Wen Fei Uva.
For more information on the high tunnel project, contact Hans C. Wien, Cornell University Horticulture Department, 607-255-4570. For more information, contact the New York Farm Viability Institute, 159 Dwight Park Circle, Suite 104, Syracuse, NY 13209, 315-453-3823, www.nyfarmviability.org.
Add Meetings to CCE Event Calendar --- Please enter events or workshops that may be of interest statewide or regionally on the online CCE Event Calendar. State and national agent association meetings should be entered as well, so as to avoid scheduling conflicts. The CCE Calendar is easy to use; first go to the CCE Staff Web site at http://staff.cce.cornell.edu. On the left-hand menu, you'll see two options: "View the Calendar/Add an Event" and "How to use the Calendar." Follow the step-by-step instructions, and your event will be posted for all to see. On Campus This Week --- If you'll be on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca this week, please check the Cornell calendar for learning opportunities and other events that may interest you. The Cornell calendar is available online at
To submit items for CCE News, send CCE News submissions to Lauri Whatley at lhw6@cornell.edu. The weekly deadline is noon each Friday.
http://www.staff.cce.cornell.edu/administration/ccenews/index.htm