Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 816. It's FLX Morning. It's our monthly Zoom meeting with Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County. It's ccecayuga.org. Frank Clark's back with us. Good morning.
Frank Clarke: Good morning.
Paul Szmal: No sun hopping through here in Auburn. Yeah, that's a whole bunch of snow. Points East have been hit the hardest here. I was coming out of Auburn the other day after a game and it was snowing very hard.
Coming up today actually at 12 noon is the 2025 Winter Shoppe meeting. It's from noon to 3. It'll be at the Raymond Donald and Sons Farm in Moravia. So this is kind of an overall look at some of the biggest topics in ag and it's a lot of kind of hands-on stuff that farmers can take home and put right to use. So tell us what happens at the shop meeting.
Frank Clarke: Yeah, so this is starting off our Winter Shoppe meeting series. We usually have three to four every winter. This year we kick it off with a focus on emerging pests, weeds. So we're going to be learning how to clean out a combine, learn about weed seed movement. We're just trying to protect farmers from keeping some of the more noxious weeds from spreading from field to field. If we have it in one field, we don't want it spreading and spreading to other fields. And one of the ways that can happen is through, you know, the seeds are so tiny. Weeds can produce hundreds of thousands of seeds. Some of them can get stuck in your combine after harvesting and you get back on that field, you deposit some of those weeds. So we're going to go over, you know, how to clean out your combine to best protect yourself and prevent the spread of weeds from happening.
And then we'll also have Dr. Gary Bergstrom from Cornell talking about some new reported fungus or diseases in corn. One being tar spot, the other being corn stunt. And the big thing about this meeting is farmers or producers can come by and they will receive two and a half DEC pesticide credits. That's just continuing education pesticide applicators need to do yearly is get these credits. And then we'll be offering two certified crop advisor credits. So it's a big meeting, got a lot going on. And as always, there'll be coffee and donuts free of charge.
Paul Szmal: You talked about these two emerging pests, corn stunt and tar spot. Is it like developing a vaccine where they... will researchers work on developing herbicides and weed killers specifically to go after those?
Frank Clarke: Yeah, so these diseases exist in the U.S. They've just been moving as temperatures have gotten warmer. They've kind of crept more northly and more east from the Midwest or the south. So there are some treatments for it, but seed breeders are working on resistances to it. But really we're just going to talk about, you know, what to look out for, how to spot it if you see it, how to report it, and what it kind of can cause to happen. Right now, you know, it's not... they're not too widespread. They've been found, but it's not a problem yet. So we just want to keep people diligent so we can prevent it from being a problem and be prepared if it does happen.
Paul Szmal: In a similar vein, on Thursday, January 23rd and 24th is the Winter Crop Meeting with specific tips and advice and emerging threats for crop growers, specifically soybeans in this case.
Frank Clarke: Yeah, so this is the Winter Crop Meeting held by the South Central New York team with Cornell. And again, this meeting will offer three pesticide credits and four CCA credits, which is a big thing. Yeah, so there's opportunities to learn about high oleanic soybeans and how you can add that to a dairy diet. There's been some research to suggest it could improve milk production. Suggest. So we're just going to go over, you know, what to think about if you're considering switching to growing high oleic soybeans. I believe I'm pronouncing that incorrect. And then we'll have some updates on some seed corn maggot research, talking about some alternative ways to control seed corn maggot. Some things that maybe can add to higher presence of seed corn maggot. So we'll be just going into ways to prevent it, future treatments possible. And then finally we'll go into growing season factors and corn silage performance. And that's just a general overview of, you know, nutrient management, harvest, crop variety. So that's just a general overview of the growing season when we talk about that. That'll be at the Ukraine Crub in Auburn and at the Dryden VFW as well.
Paul Szmal: And more information on all these things we're talking about and the sign-up links on the calendar at ccekayuga.org. That is the website. Thursday, January 30th, Winter Shop Meetings. This one's on managing your farm's woodlot. So what are some of the considerations? I mean, some farmers might not even think of, and landowners in general, think of that they need to manage it.
Frank Clarke: Yeah, so this is going to be led by Ryan Stachok, a frequent flyer here on the radio. But he's going to talk about how to, you know, potential to earn income on your woodlot. How to sustain health of a woodlot through harvesting. You know, how to calculate board feet so you can figure out how much your trees are worth. I believe he'll go into potential maple syrup. That's a big thing for him. And just in general, how to enjoy having a woodlot. How to manage it. It'll be at the Sterling Nature Center. Again, free of charge. I believe there'll be coffee donuts. You know, he's going to react to a lot of questions. He has set stuff to talk about, but if this is of interest to you, please come with your questions. He'll be happy to answer them as well. And he's also going to go over the Cornell Master Forester Program and the DEC Stewardship Forester Program as well. And then the big, just one more thing. It concludes with a portable sawmill demonstration.
Paul Szmal: Oh, that's neat. We're talking with Frank Clark from Cooperative Extension of Keuka County. A number of really intensive workshops here. February 12th, beef producers take center stage. The Keuka shop meeting for beef producers 6 to 8 at Minturn Farms in Auburn.
Frank Clarke: Yep, so there'll be more details to come for this one, but the main focus of it is to introduce Dr. Adam Murray, the new beef cattle extension specialist with Cornell Pro Livestock at Cornell University. So that'll be the main thing, is to introduce our beef producers to our new specialist. And they'll be doing farm visits during the day. So if that's something you're interested in, please give our office a call. We could help set that up.
Paul Szmal: February 26th is Dairy Day in Keuka County. That's from 10 to 3. You can get some DEC credits there. Lunch is provided. You'll be talking about forage and storage of grain and and all kinds of things. That'll be at Potter's Farm to Fork in Port Byron. Tell us about this one.
Frank Clarke: Yep, so similar to a lot of things we've talked about, this is going to just focus on dairy and some forage production. Some stuff that I'm not super familiar with, but we're going to talk about how many dairy replacements do you need. So that's just the number of head you have. We're going to talk about how to improve your silage. So how do you store it? How are you managing it? How are you feeding it? What land are you using to produce it? And then finally talking about managing your homegrown grains, because the economics on it can be super thin. The margins can be tight. So we're going to go over some best management practices to help keep those margins higher. So it's going to be a great meeting. Farmers are always looking to diversify. The more different options, the fewer eggs in one basket, so to speak. The less likely you are to be wiped out by weather or something, and you diversify your income base.
Paul Szmal: So January 24th, February 7th, and March 7th, rice growing workshops on Zoom. I didn't know we could grow rice around here. Is that done like they do in Asia, in a paddy that's flooded? How does that work?
Frank Clarke: Yeah, so rice is becoming a bigger deal here in New York. We have some places growing their own rice. It can be done, paddy system. We flood fields and grow rice in that. It can also be grown like a vegetable, like a row crop, using some plastic mulching, and you can grow it just as you'd normally grow any vegetable crop at a larger scale. But this is going to be put on by Cornell. It's a three-part series. We're going to talk about how to do a paddy system, how to source equipment from overseas. Most of the equipment for rice growing has to be sourced over from Japan. That's how you can get the more affordable stuff. And then we'll also go over harvesting, marketing, and some other alternatives to how to use rice growing on your field and how to fit it into your system.
Paul Szmal: Information on these events and also just the regular routine. There's a food preservation event coming up and all kinds of things. We just scratch the surface as always. Go to the website ccekuca.org and that'll have all your sign-up links and the information for all those shop meetings and everything we talked about. Frank, thanks. Busy time. Who knew the farmers were so busy in the winter?
Frank Clarke: Yep. Thank you for having me.
