Dr. Reza Afshar, vice president of soil, feed and water research at Dairy Management Inc. joined a Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) special webinar series celebrating FFAR’s 10-year anniversary. In this insightful session, titled “The Power of Collaborative Agricultural Research,” Dr. Afshar presented a comprehensive overview of DSWR and emphasized the numerous advantages that arise from fostering… Read more »
October 21, 2024
Eight research institutions across the country are participating in the DSWR project. Two of them — University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) and University of California, Davis — are working together in studies at a commercial dairy farm and an almond orchard. Nicholas Clark, principal investigator for the dairy site, provided an… Read more »
October 6, 2024
Dairy Soil & Water Regeneration is tapping into the talents of the best and brightest researchers in the country. They’re doing work through eight institutions located in major dairy-producing regions, from Vermont to California. DSWR Dispatch is highlighting these all-important project partners. Today, meet Jasdeep Singh, postdoctoral research associate in Cornell University’s Nutrient Management Spear… Read more »
October 3, 2024
As dairy farmers consider climate solutions, they face the challenge of having limited science-backed information guiding them in their journey toward sustainability. Reza Afshar, vice president – soil, feed and water research at Dairy Management Inc., shares how the dairy community is working with research partners to bridge that gap. Read more on the FFAR… Read more »
September 24, 2024
The DSWR Progress Report provides updates on the six-year project assessing how farming practices affect soil health, greenhouse gases and water quality in dairy feed production. The report includes updates from each research team through a study snapshot and findings to date from 2021 – 2023. Download the Progress Report.
September 10, 2024
“Demonstrating Soil Health in the Badger State” was held on August 7th, 2024 at the University of Wisconsin – Madison (UW) Arlington Agricultural Research Station. The event was hosted by the Soil Health Alliance for Research & Engagement (SHARE). Seventy-two people were in attendance, including academics, extension staff, and producers. The event included a panel… Read more »
August 10, 2024
Members of the Dairy Soil & Water Regeneration (DSWR) research team attended the North American Manure Expo in Auburn, New York, to share preliminary findings, connect with Cornell University researchers and participating farmers, review study plots and gain insights into project progress. At the event, Victor Green, director of soil health and crop sustainability at… Read more »
August 7, 2024
Novel manure products are playing a key role in the Dairy Soil & Water Regeneration (DSWR) project, a research initiative on working dairies and research farms across the U.S. As part of DSWR, the research team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is evaluating the effects of those manure products and soil conservation practices on greenhouse… Read more »
August 1, 2024
DSWR project leaders visited Kinnard Farms, a dairy in northeastern Wisconsin, to discuss research happening there. The farm is one of six commercial dairies around the country participating in extensive research trials. During the August 2023 visit, the team and the farm’s owner, Lee Kinnard, reviewed soil health and carbon data from an experiment at… Read more »
August 31, 2023
The Dairy Soil & Water Regeneration project is very much a hands-on endeavor. Members of the research teams in Wisconsin along with those from the Soil Health Institute and private agronomists came together in April at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Arlington Research Station to learn how to use one of the key instruments in the… Read more »
April 18, 2023
A team of DSWR researchers recently published an article, Effect of dairy manure-based fertilizers on nitrous oxide emissions in a semi-arid climate, in Soil Science Society of America Journal. Researchers include Abigail E. Baxter, April B. Leytem, Dan Liptzin, Andrew Bierer, and Reza K. Afshar; the full publication is available at https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/saj2.20751 Abstract Manure treatment… Read more »
October 1, 2024
Join Across the Fence as they visit University of Vermont Associate Professor Joshua Faulkner, Interim Director of the Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Learn about the ongoing research into soil cores to manage agricultural runoff from Vermont farmland with a focus on sampling in the DSWR project. Across the Fence is the longest-running locally-produced program in… Read more »
August 29, 2024
Noblehurst Farms is a seventh-generation multi-family dairy farm co-owned by Rob Noble ‘79. Team members from Cornell CALS Nutrient Management Spear Program (NMSP) are working with Noble to improve the sustainability of forage cultivation as part of the nationwide Dairy Soil & Water Regeneration (DSWR) project. Read the full article: https://cals.cornell.edu/news/2024/08/making-strides-novel-manure-research-us-dairys-net-zero-initiative Photo caption: Rob Noble,… Read more »
August 15, 2024
As global attention intensifies on the need for climate action, the agricultural sector is increasingly in the spotlight, particularly concerning methane emissions — a potent greenhouse gas with significant impact on global warming. The world’s most preeminent leaders and scientists are converging on immediate and effective actions to mitigate one of the most challenging aspects… Read more »
July 15, 2024
The BMO Sustainability Leaders Podcast talked with Dr. Reza Afshar, vice president of soil, feed and water research at Dairy Management Inc., and Bridgett Hilshey, sustainable agriculture project manager for DMI, to discuss DMI’s research work, particularly the Dairy Soil & Water Regenerations project, that enable progress toward the dairy industry’s 2050 environmental goals. https://sustainabilityleaders.bmo.com/en/news-insights/sustainability-leaders/dairy-industry-goals-ghg-neutrality-and-water-management/
July 2, 2024
A nationwide research effort continues in determining soil health and manure management within dairy operations, and what that means from both economic and environmental perspectives. Victor Green of Dairy Management Inc., April Leytem of USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and Mara Cloutier of the Soil Health Institute talked to USDA Radio News. Listen to Broadcast: https://www.usda.gov/media/radio/weekly-features/2024-07-02/collaboration-dairy-resource-management-research
July 2, 2024
A six-year multi-state study is measuring the differences between soil management practices. Dennis Busch with the University of Wisconsin-Platteville tells Brownfield they are evaluating how a suite of conservation practices in a soil health management system influence soil health, water quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and farm productivity. “We measure the total volume of runoff and… Read more »
May 31, 2024
Postdoctoral Research Associate Jasdeep Singh of the Cornell Nutrient Management Spear Program (NMSP) is researching the impacts of soil health practices on corn silage yield, soil health indicators, and greenhouse gas emissions. In Central New York, Singh and the NMSP team are looking at two field treatments at Osterhoudt Farms. Read on to learn more… Read more »
May 13, 2024
The University of Vermont Extension’s “Across the Fence” program features the Dairy Soil & Water Regeneration research happening on farms in Vermont. Water quality is a unique focus of the work in the state. WATCH VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys3nVtFcrEI
April 2, 2024
Erick Amaya and Carlos Irias, students from Zamorano University in Honduras, came to Cornell University for internships with the Nutrient Management Spear Program (NMSP). As undergraduate seniors they already had strong backgrounds in agriculture before arriving in Ithaca, New York. Their internships at Cornell allowed them to gain more hands-on experience with applied research and… Read more »
December 11, 2023