Empire Farm Days

Empire Farm Days
Meagan Chittenden & Josh Rutherford

For three long, hot days, us interns; Josh, Melissa and Meagan, explored the Empire Farm Days. While we were there, we were able to sit in on seminars, watch demonstrations and talk with not only growers, but other professionals from whom we can learn.

During the Empire Farm Days, we were able to tour the Seedway plant and learn about how hybrids are produced. None of us had seen the process of how corn was bred to produce inbred parents to eventually create a hybrid. After spending time learning about controlled pollination, we went to the plant where we were able to see where the seeds are germinated, bagged and treated for shipments. We were able to learn tremendously about the lengthy development of hybrids and the course the seed takes before we are able to see it being sold. We would like to thank Pete Carey again for the tour and everyone who was able to tell us a little about what they do.

The Soil Health Center at Empire Farm Days, first established in 2015, was created for presentations from professionals from Cornell University, USDA, and the Soil and Water Conservation Districts. Along with presentations, agencies set up rainfall demonstrations to simulate alternative agricultural soil management practices like conventional, no-till, and cover cropping in order to show the impact on soil health and biology. Panel guests were invited to have open discussions with the audience on their practices and learning outcomes they were willing to share on the different topics such as cover cropping tips and techniques, tillage practices, and soil health.

PRO-DAIRY and DairyBusiness & HolsteinWorld magazine have partnered to create conferences known as Dairy Profit Seminars. Farm Credit East, Pike-Side Enterprises, ASAP Interiors, Lallemand Animal Nutrition, Multimin USA, Dairy Farmers of America, and Farm Family Casualty Insurance sponsored the seminars. One seminar discussed the difficulties in implementing manure storage facilities and the methods Russ Beck, owner of Beck Farms Inc., used to address community concerns as well as on-farm management of manure. Other seminars discussed the changing and response to the agriculture labor environment, and improving herd health and safer foods through the effective development, operation, and assessment of management practices.