Perspectives on the Opportunities and Impacts of Solar Installation in Agricultural Areas
Event Details
Date
September 28, 2023
October 12, 2023
October 26, 2023
November 9, 2023
November 22, 2023
Time
Noon - 1:15pm
Location
Zoom
Host
Cornell Cooperative Extension Herkimer County
Garet Livermore
315-866-7920
email Garet Livermore
In a continued collaboration between Cornell Cooperative Extension, Pennsylvania, and Farm Bureaus of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York this series of webinars will explore the continued push for development of solar energy projects in agricultural areas of the Northeast. This five part series will address the topic from multiple perspectives and help to identify the opportunities and challenges as well as currently know best practices for integrating the need for renewable energy with other economic and social factors.
Click on each session name to register. Register for one or all sessions in this series. All sessions are free.
Session #1: Impacts of Large-Scale Solar on Rural Communities - A Research Perspective
Thursday, September 28th 12 pm - 1:15 pm
Research into this topic is still relatively new; however, initial studies offer some insight into how the perceptions, impacts and opportunities around solar and land use. This session will explore current finding on key issues in rural communities, decision making metrics being developed through this research and how communities can integrate these metrics. Additionally, the potential tradeoffs between energy and agriculture and emerging opportunities in agrivoltaics will be discussed.
Session #2: Solar and Agriculture - A Company's Perspective on the Challenges and Pathways to Successful Integration of Both
Thursday, October 12th 12 pm - 1:15 pm
Developers of large-scale solar facilities are interested in optimizing the use of the land within the project footprint and continue to work to understand the opportunities and challenges of agrivoltaics, or dual use, setups. The session will also explore the key aspects of the decision-making process developers use for site selection and how they weigh these factors against impacts on land use, particularly when the location contains soil types identified as prime for agriculture production.
Moderator: Jeff Williams, NY Farm Bureau JWilliams@nyfb.org
Panelist:
- Marguerite Wells, Invenergy MWells@invenergyllc.com;
- Josh Bennett/Kevin Campbell, EDF Josh Bennett: Bennett@edf-re.com Kevin Campbell: Kevin.Campbell@edf-re.com
- Iain Ward, Solar Agricultural Services iain@solaragservices.com
Session #3: A Farmer's Perspective on Solar
Thursday, October 26th 12 pm - 1:15 pm
Farmers who have looked closely at solar electricity production on their land will discuss their experiences with developers, and their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of solar for agriculture. Discussion will include differences in the scale of solar projects, how solar might impact farmers in varied circumstances, and ideas for optimizing the benefits of a nd mitigating the challenges of solar for agriculture.
Session #4: A Community Perspective on Solar
Thursday, November 9th 12 pm - 1:15 pm
Expanding out beyond the impacts to individual landowners, solar develop can have broader opportunities and challenges for the rural, agricultural based communities that host them. This session will offer observations and ideas for the community level on best practices for successfully integrating solar as a land use. When it is a competing land use and when it can be a complementary land use.
Session #5: Question and Answer
Wednesday, November 22nd 12 pm - 1:15 pm
A Q&A to cover any and all of the previously presented material in Sessions 1-4 featuring the speakers from this series.
Upcoming Events
Dairy Feeder School - Host Farm: Twin Birch Dairy
October 31, 2024
Skaneateles, NY
One day on-farm training for dairy farm feeders; Offered in English and Spanish at each site; Stations with hands-on activities/demos
Topics Covered During Feeder School:
¨ Economics and importance of feeding and feed management
¨ Dry matter and feeder math basics: how to measure DM and refusals, and adjust ration
¨ Feed consistency and TMR audits
¨ Troubleshooting mixer wagons
¨ Bunk silo management, map out bunk, packing density and preservation, and feed out
¨ Safety
Dairy Feeder School - Host Farm: Walnut Ridge Dairy
November 12, 2024
Lansing, NY
One day on-farm training for dairy farm feeders; Offered in English and Spanish at each site; Stations with hands-on activities/demos
Topics Covered During Feeder School:
¨ Economics and importance of feeding and feed management
¨ Dry matter and feeder math basics: how to measure DM and refusals, and adjust ration
¨ Feed consistency and TMR audits
¨ Troubleshooting mixer wagons
¨ Bunk silo management, map out bunk, packing density and preservation, and feed out
¨ Safety
Announcements
Farm Participants Needed for Bale Grazing Grant!
Information on the Project:- Approximately 10 acres total needed to bale graze two different bale densities
- "Core" farms will graze two winters, "Demo" farms will graze one winter.
- Payments for both "Core" farms and "Demo" farms
- Baseline soil sampling by bale grazing team
- Forage measurements in early season by bale grazing team
- Late season clipping if residual not trampled down by farm
Cornell Cow Convos - New Podcast
On-going podcast, New episodes released on the last Thursday of the month.Guest speakers, CCE Dairy Specialists.
Housed on Soundcloud Channel is CCE Dairy Educators
- Preventative healthcare for cows
- The trend of beef on dairy
- What to look forward to in the new year for dairy
- Socially grouping or pair-housing calves
Dairy Acceleration Program Funds Available
- organization of financial records/benchmarking up to $1,000
- continued business planning (for farms awarded in a previous year) up to $2,500
- business planning up to $5,000
2018 Drug Residue Prevention Manual
For more than 30 years, the U.S. dairy industry has focused educational efforts on the judicious use of antibiotics through the annual publication of a Best Practices Manual. The 2018 edition of the National Dairy FARM Program: Farmers Assuring Responsible Management? Milk and Dairy Beef Drug Residue Prevention Manual is the primary educational tool for dairy farm managers throughout the country on the judicious and responsible use of antibiotics, including avoidance of drug residues in milk and meat.The manual is a quick resource to review those antibiotics approved for dairy animals and can also be used as an educational tool and resource for farm managers as they develop on-farm best management practices necessary to avoid milk and meat residues. Visit the Manual and Form Library to download copies of this important tool!
Follow us on Facebook
The team updates our facebook page frequently - follow us to be updated on our events, see some fun videos and get local area updates!facebook.com/SCNYDairyandFieldCropsTeam
ProDairy Forage Management
Are you prepared to change your routine this spring?While spring tasks vary by farm, there are many "rites of spring," and they are often completed in a fairly rigid sequence. Depending on the farm, these often include fixing fence, spreading manure, planting new seedings, planting corn and harvesting first cutting, and are often performed in this order.
We are optimistic that the upcoming turn in weather will allow these task to be accomplished in a timely manner, but at this point it is time to ask yourself: Are you willing to change your spring routine?
In addition to adverse weather it is no secret that everyone is facing extremely tight economic times, and dealing with forage inventories of poor digestibility forages from 2017. This combination of factors makes it more critical than ever to be ready to tackle the task that will have the most impact on your business at the proper time.
Recent reference articles on dealing with tough times:
• Key Opportunities to Optimize 2018 Crop Production Efficiency
• Resources for Dealing with Spring Weather Delays
First Cutting
The number one focus should be on timely harvest of first cutting.
• Park the corn planter when a field of first cutting is ready for harvest.
o Monitoring 1st cut harvest timing
• Approach harvest by the acre, not by the field. Be ready to skip over a field that has passed its optimum harvest stage.
o Dynamic Harvest Schedules
• Strategically plan feed storage to best utilize forage inventories for the right group of animals.
o Strategic Forage Storage Planning
o When More is Better
Corn Planting
The window for planting for silage is generally wider than for grain, which is why first cutting can and should take priority over corn planting. However, in the event of extreme delays in planting corn, performance will diminish with late plantings. If corn planting progresses into late May or early June, begin to consider alternative options for those acres. Previous research from Cornell and Penn State suggest a 0.5 to 1 ton/acre per week decline in silage yield for planting after mid to late May.
Multi-Tasking
First and foremost during a time of year that can be very busy and stressful, taking every precaution to keep your team safe is critical.
The idea of fitting all of this work into a condensed time period, and still getting key tasks completed before critical deadlines can seem impossible, but year after year many find unique ways to get it all done. Consider working with neighbors, custom operators or renting equipment to accomplish these key tasks on time.
If you currently utilize custom operators, now is a good time to set up a time to meet with them and make sure you are on the same page to get tasks accomplished in the time-frame needed. Make sure that your expectations and goals are clearly defined. They will also be under stress to fit their work into a condensed period and meet their customers' expectations, so defining expectations and pre-planning how to most efficiently get the work accomplished when the custom operator arrives can go a long way to increase the chances for success.
NYSERDA Agriculture Energy Audit Program
NYSERDA offers energy audits to help eligible farms and on-farm producers identify ways to save energy and money on utility bills. Reports include recommendations for energy efficiency measures.For more information and the NYSERDA Agriculture Energy Audit Program Application click here