Progress report for ENE16-143

Milestone 1. The project team will develop Extension materials and curriculum to share with farmers and farm advisors. The materials will cover the process of deriving a whole farm NMB, interpretation of results, and benefits of conducting NMBs for adaptive management over time. (Completion date: December 1, 2016)

In the winter of 2016 we developed two 45 min training sessions, one to explain the concept of the whole farm mass balance, and one to explain how to use the calculator for the assessment. The first presentation described the idea of the mass balance calculations: the farm is considered as a system with an internal nutrient cycle (feed-cow-manure-soil), and for any feasibly measurable product that enters (feed, fertilizers, bedding, etc.) or exits (milk, animals, manure, etc.) this system the amount of N, P, and K is recorded. The difference between the exports and the imports is defined as the Nutrient Mass Balance. This balance is expressed per tillable acre and per hundredweight (cwt) of milk exported to provide indicators of sustainability and efficiency respectively. To provide targets for farms to aim for, the concept of the “green box” was introduced, derived from a dataset with 102 farms. Farms that operate within the feasible balances per acre and per cwt are in the green box. In addition to balances, a table of indicators to find potential areas of improvement was provided.

The second presentation contained a description of the required inputs to calculate the mass balance and how to use the calculator that is available on the website of the Nutrient Management Spear Program. In short: to gather the required data, a four-page input form can be downloaded. In addition to basic farm information, such as number of animals and amount of acres, details on the different imported and exported commodities are needed. For instance, for imported (or exported) feed and manure, the calculator needs the total imported weight, the dry matter content, and the crude protein, P, and K concentrations. For animal purchases or sales, the type of animal, number, and average weight per head is required. Next to information on imports and exports, the software requires information on homegrown feed (acres, average yield, dry matter, and nutrient contents). Although this information does not contribute to the balance, as it is neither imported nor exported, this data is used to calculate efficiency indicators that are included in the opportunities table that is included in the report.

The first training sessions with these powerpoint slides were held with farmers in the Caring Dairy program of Ben and Jerry’s in January and in March. The training reached about 30 farmers from the coop. Very similar training sessions were done throughout 2017 with consultant audiences.

In collaboration with Agricultural Consulting Service (ACS), we evaluated integration of mass balance assessment with record keeping, which resulted in ACS incorporating the assessment into their fields and crops record keeping system. This evaluation was published in a journal article: 

1. Van Almelo, J., Q.M. Ketterings, and S. Cela (2016) Integrating record keeping with whole farm nutrient mass balance: A case study. Journal of Agricultural Science 8: 22-32. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/jas.v8n6p22.

An additional extension article and impact statement were generated on this project:

1. Impacts of Cornell’s Nutrient Mass Balance Diagnostic Tool:An Industry Perspective. http://blogs.cornell.edu/whatscroppingup/2016/05/19/integrating-record-keeping-with-whole-farm-nutrient-mass-balance-a-case-study/
2. Integrating Record Keeping with Whole Farm Nutrient Mass Balance; A Case Study. http://nmsp.cals.cornell.edu/publications/impactstatements/ACSmassbalance.pdf

In addition, in 2017, we added two publications on trends in mass balances in New York and the Upper Susquehanna Watershed that was in part funded by NESARE (incorporates many mass balances):

1. Cela, S., Q.M. Ketterings, M., Soberon, C. Rasmussen, and K.J. Czymmek (2016). Upper Susquehanna watershed and New York State improvements in nitrogen and phosphorus mass balances of dairy farms. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 27:1-11. doi: 10.2489/jswc.72.1.1.
2. What’s Cropping Up? Series: Phosphorus and the Environment Article 4: Greatly Improved Nutrient Efficiency Demonstrates New York Dairy Farmers’ Environmental Stewardship.

Additionally, we are currently in the progress of updating the NMB calculator to include extra farm efficiency indicators and to make it more user-friendly. To do this, we are working with a software programmer and with Cornell University animal nutrition specialists.

Milestone 2. Forty interested farm advisors and eighty farmers receive the educational materials electronically through the NMB website (http://nmsp.cals.cornell.edu/NYOnFarmResearchPartnership/MassBalances.html) and listservs. (Completion date: January 31, 2017)

We used the materials developed for the training with the Caring Dairy Program for meetings with consulting firms and farmers. Meetings were held with several individual farms, with consulting firms of WNYCMA and ACS, with Northern New York consultants, with the extension office of Delaware County, and with the Soil and Water Conservation Districts united in the Upper Susquehanna Coalition. This resulted in an audience of 69 farm advisors, with 18 mass balances completed in 2017 (excluding the Caring Dairy initiative). Talks were given at the Northeastern Plant, Pest, and Soils Conference (about 25 people), in Philadelphia, PA, at the Agronomy, Soil and Crop Science Society of America meetings in both 2016 and 2017 (about 100 people total), at the Northern New York crop meetings (about 70 people), and as part of the Center for Dairy Excellence Seminar Series (about 30 people) to reach a multi-state audience. In addition, recognizing the importance of involvement of nutritionist with NMB assessments, a presentation was given in 2018 at the Cornell Nutrition Conference for an estimated attendance of 250 people. The 2017 presentations resulting new grants with NMB assessments included by counterparts in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Connecticut, and Maine.

In New York itself (outside of Ben and Jerry’s Caring Dairy program), we were able to complete 18 whole farm nutrient mass balances for 2016 and 23 balances for 2017, working with farmers directly and with farm advisors. The Caring Dairy initiative added 39 farms for the 2015 growing season, 55 for the 2016 growing season, and another 55 farms are currently being processed for the 2017 growing season. This assessment will be completed early 2018. The activities in 2018 expanded the number of service providers who participated to 62.

Milestone 3. Twenty dairy farm advisors learn how to conduct whole farm NMB assessments and interpret the results through four on-location group meetings (two meetings/year in different locations) and webinars, which can be used for reference and self-study after workshops. (Completion date: June 31, 2017)

Six New York meetings were held with several individual farms, with consulting firms of WNYCMA and ACS, with Northern New York consultants, with the extension office of Delaware County, and with the Soil and Water Conservation Districts united in the Upper Susquehanna Coalition in March through May of 2017. This resulted in an audience of 69 farm advisors, with 18 mass balances completed in 2017 and 23 balances in 2018 (excluding the Caring Dairy initiative). This is in addition to the two Caring Dairy meetings that were held in January and early March 2017. Mass balance counts here exclude 39, 55, and 55 Caring Dairy farms that participated with 2015, 2016, and 2017 balances so far.

Milestone 4. Eight farm advisors who agree to complete NMBs and discuss the results with two farmers each will receive follow-up farm visits from the project team to support their work. Mass balances will be completed for sixteen farms for two years (2016 and 2017 calendar years). (Completion date: April 30, 2018)

Eighteen NMBs were completed in 2017 (2016 calendar year). In 2018, 23 farms completed a balance for the 2017 calendar year, and for one of these farms we were able to conduct an additional balance for 2016. In total, 18 farms, have completed balances for both the 2016 and 2017 calendar years, as for one of the farms obtained in 2017 we were not able to get the 2017 data in 2018. In addition, the Ben and Jerry’s Caring Dairy initiative added 55 balances for the 2016 growing season on top of the 40 farms we analyzed for 2015. We are currently processing the data for an additional year (2017) of balances for their farms (55 farms). Discussions are ongoing with other states and industry groups, such as a collaboration between Chobani and the WWF for inclusion of additional NMBs.

Milestone 5. The eight farm advisors working with two farmers each will identify two areas of possible investigation/improvement on the farms as a result of the NMB assessments and discussions with farmers. (Completion date: April 30, 2018)

The calendar year 2016 was a challenging year for many farmers (drought). Each farm received a list with farm indicators that could be used to determine opportunities for improvement over time. Such indicators should be evaluated for at least two years in a row and will be continued in 2018 (for 2017 data). The year 2017 was a very different year (extreme rainfall in many areas in the state) and this will likely impact the balances as well. We discussed the 2017 results for five different farms during farm visits over the first half of 2018. We plan to further discuss the farm results over the past three years (2016-2018) over the first half of 2019. During these visits we will collect feedback to improve the NMB software. Additionally, we are using the calculator as an education and scenario tool. We work with farms that use double cropping systems to analyze the effect of implementing this on more acres. With help of Cornell University animal nutrition specialists we are assessing the implications on feed rations and thus on the necessary feed imports and the whole farm balance.

Milestone 6. Eight farm advisors and sixteen farmers will respond to project verification surveys and report on their experiences conducting NMBs, farm management practices investigated and/or changed as a result of NMBs, and intention to continue conducting NMBs (as advisors and as farmers). (Completion date: July 30, 2018)

We will follow up with producers and crop consultants with a more formal survey in the summer of 2019. Individual interviews were done with two of the farms. These interviews were published as impact statement on the NMB website of the Nutrient Management Spear Program (http://nmsp.cals.cornell.edu/NYOnFarmResearchPartnership/MassBalances.html):

• McMahon Family’s Clear Vision Brings E-Z Acres Farm to Economic and Environmental Sustainability
• Impacts of Cornell’s Nutrient Mass Balance Diagnostic Tool: An Industry Perspective.
• Nutrient Mass Balance Tool Helps Table Rock Farm Achieve Their Goals.