Cornell Cooperative Extension Community Horticulture

Agro-One
Soil and Plant Analytical Laboratory
November 11, 2008

Cornell University and Dairy One are planning to combine their strengths to provide soil and plant testing services to farmers and farm advisors.

Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Dairy One Cooperative, Inc. are collaborating through Agro One to insure that farmers and farm advisors in New York and the Northeast continue to have high-quality soil, plant tissue, and nutrient laboratory testing services available to them now and into the future.  Additionally, the collaboration will provide a mechanism for delivery of new analytical services and systems in the future.

Through this collaboration, Cornell will move its routine soil and plant tissue analysis to the Agro One laboratory housed at Dairy One’s Ithaca facility.  This allows Cornell to focus on soil and plant research and the development of innovative analytical methods, while Agro One will focus on providing routine soil and plant tissue analysis to farmers and their advisors.  Agro One will provide soil and plant tissue testing services as have been available through the Cornell Nutrient Analysis Laboratory along with additional analytical services. Key input regarding analytical methods and quality control will be provided by Cornell, and Cornell nutrient management recommendations will continue to be provided through Agro One.  Stakeholders will therefore continue to receive the same services as in the past. 

Agro One will bring together the strengths of Cornell’s knowledge and research in agronomy and horticulture with Dairy One’s industry-leading analytical capabilities and customer service.  The Dairy One sample transportation system that blankets the Northeast will become available for soil and tissue samples being submitted to the Agro One lab.  Agro One will also provide an expanded set of analytical data for use by Cornell researchers.

The move away from providing commercial laboratory services is consistent with Cornell’s focus on research and spinning off commercially-viable technologies to the private sector.  Freeing up resources previously dedicated to commercial soil and plant tissue lab services will allow Cornell to enhance its research capabilities while improving the amount of data available through Agro One.

There are many logistical issues to be worked out in the coming weeks.  Cornell and Dairy One are committed to making a smooth transition for farmers, farm advisors, extension educators, and Cornell personnel.

Dairy One Cooperative, Inc. is a 501 (c) 5 educational not-for-profit cooperative that provides dairy herd improvement services (DHIA) and software to dairy farmers in 13 northeast U.S. states and analytical services for forage, milk, water, soil, and manure to customers in the U.S. and around the world.

This 4-H club grew basil seeds that were in space and so can you…

The seeds are still available from NASA, as of this writing. Just go tothis webpage:

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/plantgrowth/joinchallenge/index.html

Here’s how they did in Oneonta:

The Oneonta Junior Scientists 4-H Club sent away (over the internet) for basil seeds that were flown by the space shuttle in the summer of 2007.  The seeds arrived in Oneonta in November and the club saved them until early spring. In March of 2008 the packet was opened at a club meeting and the number of seeds were counted. There were enough seeds to give each member 3 each, and the remaining six seeds were given to the 3rd grade science teacher at Greater Plains and a 4th grade teacher at Valleyview Elementary Schools in Oneonta.  In all, about 20-25 seeds were in our packet.

Club members planted the seeds in growth chambers configured from 3-liter soda bottles, and the growing medium was a mix of perlite and vermiculite.

Each member was given a thermometer to use inside their chamber to monitor temperature.  This was very important when the chamber was exposed to direct sunlight.

We used an organic fish and seaweed fertilizer as a nutrient. All of the seeds sprouted in the club members chambers. As time went by, some club members kept record of growth rates.

Two of the basil plant chambers were displayed at the Otsego County Fair this past summer.  In fact, these two plants are still thriving, and each of them has produced seeds.

One of the club members who had one of these plants has already planted and began growing a second generation of basil, using these seeds!

And I hope your report how well these cultivars of basil did at Cornell Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners website: http://vegvariety.cce.cornell.edu/

Gardeners engage the next generation in vegetable growing and making use of all the fruit in the vegetable garden.

Rise to the challenge and create a cool, funky piece of earth-friendly art with youth in your community.
See: Veggie Art

And you thought they improved your health when you ate them … try playing them
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpfYt7vRHuY

http://www.gemueseorchester.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Here’s their website with more information:

http://mastergardener.umd.edu/Handbook.cfm