2000 Integrated Pest Management/Integrated Crop Management Program for Albany, Schenectady and Rensselaer Counties

Abstract

As everyone associated with Agriculture in New York State is painfully aware, we had a miserable cropping season in 2000. Despite this, and low milk prices and high oil prices, our number of farms receiving IPM has stayed constant at nine. Two farms withdrew, but two joined. There are now four farms paying for the program out of their pockets. With weather and economic conditions as they were for 2000, our participation rate says a lot about how area producers feel about the program. The push to get soil sampling completed on area farms has become a more pressing issue now that farms are receiving Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and/or Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) funds to complete projects. These farms are required to have a Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan (CNMP) in place for their operations before work can get underway. This requires the farms have manure samples analyzed and current soil samples for all their crop fields and in many cases their pastures as well. Five area farms newly designated to receive EQIP funding had soil and manure testing done by Albany County’s Field Technician Terry Lavigne, and one farm receiving no cost sharing whatsoever had all their fields spring scouted and soil sampled. This totaled 1,471 acres soil sampled above and beyond the nine farms enrolled in IPM/ICP. Total Acres Served: 5,793.