Location: Van Lieshout's Dairy Farm, 4775 Oak Orchard Road, Albion, NY 

Please Join us for a morning of presentations and tours at the Van Lieshout Dairy Farm in Albion, NY, as we highlight energy efficiency upgrades and resources available to NY Farmers.

By participating in NYSERDA's Agriculture Energy Audit Program, the Van Lieshout Dairy Farm received a no-cost energy audit. Equipped with the results of the energy audit, the Van Lieshout Dairy farm worked with National Grid to install robotic milking equipment and other energy efficient equipment.

National Grid's Energy Efficiency and Economic Development programs provided approximately $90,000.00 of funds to the project. By purchasing highly efficient products, the Van Lieshout's will save an estimated 311,000 kWh per year, which equates to approximately $31,000.00 per year in electrical costs.

Hear directly from the Cindy Van Lieshout about her family's experience with various programs and services they used to help the farm become energy efficient and sustainable. The Van Lieshout Dairy Farm, a third-generation family owned and run operation, has been in business since 1978. Investing in energy efficiency and making these upgrades will better position Cindy's son, Garrett to manage the business in the future as the current generation prepares to retire in a few years.

The Van Lieshout's completed a Cornell Dairy Farm Business Summary on an annual basis to assess their business and plan for a sustainable future. For this project, they used Pro-Dairy's Dairy Acceleration Program, now known as the Dairy Advancement Program, funded through New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets to cost share their facility engineering.

Representatives from NSYERDA, National Grid, and Cornell Cooperative Extension will be on hand to answer questions and provide additional information.

Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the newly installed equipment. Light Refreshments will be provided.
For more Information Contact:
Lisa Coven at lisac@ensave.com 800-732-1399
Margaret Quaassdorff at maq27@cornell.edu 585-405-2567
Jay Snyder at John.Snyderjr@nationalgrid.com 716-517-5515

In response to delayed and prevented planting resulting from above average rainfall and wetness, the USDA Risk Management Agency has made a one-time change to the 2019 crop year prevented planting rules that effectively allows silage corn, if planted as a cover crop following local agricultural expert guidelines, to be acceptable as a post-prevented planting cover crop. Under this one-time rule change, producers are allowed to produce this crop while retaining their prevented planting payment. This change couples with previously announced one-time changes to the prevented planting rules - including expanded acceptable uses for post-prevented planting cover crops and a change in the cover crop haying and grazing start date rule - serve to help those struggling to meet their forage needs due to the weather.

Read the full article from the New York Crop Insurance Education Program.

The USDA-RMA states that "For crop insurance purposes, a cover crop is a crop generally recognized by agricultural experts as agronomically sound for the area for erosion control or other purposes related to conservation or soil improvement." PRO-DAIRY specialists Joe Lawrence and Karl Czymmek and Dr. Quirine Ketterings, Professor and Director of Cornell Nutrient Management Spear Program have released a letter stating "Corn on Prevented Planting acres meets these objectives."