Our Impact

The annual Muck Onion Twilight Meeting was organized by Cornell Vegetable Program Onion Specialist, Christy Hoepting. It featured new fungicide recommendations based on latest research results from her on-farm fungicide trials and complimentary laboratory bioassay results from Cornell Plant Pathologist, Frank Hay. The focus is on controlling Botrytis leaf blight and Stemphylium leaf blight leaf diseases, which may cause $990 to $2,970 per acre in yield losses when uncontrolled. Similarly, Cornell Onion Entomologist, Brian Nault also shared latest research results from on-farm field trials that investigated control of onion thrips with insecticides. Hoepting and Nault also distributed their much-anticipated updated versions of the Cornell Onion Fungicide “Cheat Sheet” and Onion Thrips Insecticide Decision Tool. Muck onion growers use the new information received at the meeting to make spray decisions in the current growing season. 

As part of a statewide research project on alternatives to neonicotinoid insecticides led by Cornell IPM, 34 on-farm weather stations were installed across the state. Cornell Vegetable Program (CVP) Specialist Julie Kikkert worked with Marion Zuefle and technicians from Cornell IPM to install 11 stations across the CVP region. An additional 16 stations were installed in the region by other regional agriculture teams. Each weather station came as a kit and required roughly 4 hours to put together and install in the field. Cellular signal is required for station connection to the vendor platform which dictates location of stations. The stations are powered by solar. 

The weather stations are installed in or near field research plots where sweet corn, field corn, snap beans or soybeans are grown from seed treated with or without Cruiser insecticide (a neonicotinoid). Cruiser is being phased out in these crops because of concern about effects on pollinators and the environment (NYS Birds and Bees Protection Act).

The Cornell Vegetable Program is in year two of our high tunnel trial with our grower cooperators in Yates County evaluating impacts of winter cover crop mixtures and monocultures on soil health and crop yields. We have four treatments: 1) single species grain Cereal rye; 2) single species legume Austrian winter pea, 3) cover crop mix Crimson clover, Austrian winter pea, Oats, Cereal rye, and Tillage radish; and 4) bare ground weeded control. This year, our cover crops were planted in early October and terminated in mid-March. Tomatoes were planted in early April and will be grown through early fall. 

Important soil health indicators include respiration and predicated available water capacity. These two soil health indicators differed by cover crop treatment. Results showed all cover crop treatments to have significantly higher respiration than the control treatment, with the mix treatment significantly higher than the grain and legume. The mix treatment also showed higher predicted available water capacity compared to the control and legume treatment. 
 

The recent planting of a trial field with 18 varieties of sweet corn, each replicated four times for a total of 72 plots, highlights the significant partnerships and time involved. This is the second year of a two-year trial that will provide information on the tolerance of the varieties to tar spot, an emerging disease of corn in our region. We are also rating tolerance to other naturally occurring diseases such as common rust and northern corn leaf blight that may emerge in the trial. 

This multi-stage process—from securing funding to project planning and trial design to field prep and planting to monitoring and data analysis—is estimated at 176 total hours across all involved. This year, the Cornell Vegetable Program worked with our grower collaborator and his family and Cornell Plant Pathologist Sarah Pethybridge. An industry advisory committee helped develop our research plan. We also appreciate the seed donations from our industry partners. 

The Cornell Vegetable Program has continued its small-scale fresh market potato variety trial focused on smaller-scale and mixed vegetable growers who include fresh market potatoes on their farms. This trial includes potato varieties that are already commercially available across a variety of colors and shapes, with the goal of testing varieties in New York to determine how well different varieties might perform for growers interested in including new varieties in their rotations. In 2026, we are growing a variety of yellow, red, white, and purple varieties including a few fingerlings.

The dry bean cultivar trial is now managed by the Cornell Vegetable Program. We moved it from the Cornell AgriTech research station to an on-farm trial hosted in a farmer’s field. This will allow growers to see how well the different varieties perform under management practices and farm conditions that more closely resemble their own.
 

Fresh Farmers Together was formed as a marketing association run by the growers who invested, through membership, to establish a collaborative marketing arrangement with a paid selling coordinator and rotating assistance from several beginning farmers. Working meetings were held all through the winter and early spring organizing this endeavor. To help it along, Cornell Vegetable Program Specialist Robert Hadad offered operational marketing assistance focused on helping growers understand their cost of production, improving quality, record keeping, and working together as a cooperative group. On June 6, the Fresh Farmers Together Marketing Association opened for business at the Rochester Public Market. Photo from @freshfarmersroc