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AgModels, Cornell Cooperative Extension and The New York City Watershed Agricultural Program Team Up to Help Dairy Farms and the EnvironmentToday, the Cornell Cooperative Extension ("CCE") of Delaware County signed an agreement with AgModels, LLC for AgModels to convert the Precision Feed Management Benchmark Calculator developed by Cornell Cooperative Extension into a secure web-based application for use in monitoring and improving environmental conditions in the New York City watershed. Farms are challenged with meeting the ever increasing nutritional needs of a growing population, with an ever decreasing amount of land used for agriculture. Over the past several decades, the agriculture industry has seen tremendous gains in productivity per acre. CCE and AgModels are teaming up to make available for the first time on the Web CCE's Precision Feed Management Benchmark Calculator. The Precision Feed Management Benchmark Calculator is a product developed jointly by researchers at Cornell University and Cornell Cooperative Extension that, until now, has been available only as an Excel Spreadsheet application, and is used to help track nutrient flows across a farm and ration profitability. CCE's Precision Feed Management Calculator looks at the efficiency and use of nitrogen and phosphorus in cattle diets. Inefficient feeding can contribute to nutrient loading of the water supply, which can potentially contribute to algae blooms in fresh water lakes. Since 2013, AgModels has been working with the Great Lakes Protection Fund, a private, not-for-profit corporation formed in 1989 by the Governors of the Great Lakes states, to develop and implement methodologies and information technology solutions to ensure more accurate feeding of dairy cows, which limits the negative impact of the run-off of excess nutrients into the watershed. AgModels has partnered with numerous researchers in the undertaking of this project, and are proud to be able to add the expertise of CCE-Delaware County to this effort as well. As part of this software development agreement, AgModels will expand and enhance the capabilities of Cornell Cooperative Extension's Precision Feed Management Benchmark Calculator ("PFM") software system to add fiber and non-fiber digestibility data as well as milk quality measurements for research and operational purposes. AgModels will enabl CCE - Delaware County to extract, transform and load feed sample analysis data from forage laboratories for participating farms and auto populate individual farm data into the PFM Benchmark Calculator. "Precision Feeding Management is a great benefit to both farmers and water consumers; it is at the center of achieving our goal of supporting practices that are productive, profitable, and good for the environment," remarked Dale Dewing, New York City Watershed Team Leader for CCE of Delaware County. Paul Cerosaletti, CCE Delaware County team leader for PFM efforts in the watershed added, "We are excited about improving the usability and utility of the Benchmarking tool for our team and the farmers we work with. It's a first step towards the complete integration of our PFM program work flow." "I have enjoyed a long history of working with leading agricultural research institutions such as Cornell University, the National Academy of Sciences, the Miner Institute, the University of Pennsylvania and others," said Michael C. Barry, President of AgModels, LLC. "In the future, we plan to add additional features to assist CCE - Delaware County in more effectively gathering farm-related data for their own program purposes, and then share those enhancements to our platform with other Cooperative Extension programs and other interested parties. We are interested in quantifying and sharing best practices to help the entire industry move forward." "An important component of improved water quality in the Great Lakes is managing the inputs that happen 'upstream' of the runoff," said David Rankin, Program Director of the Great Lakes Protection Fund. "Data-driven management of farm nutrients will enhance efforts to address water quality issues throughout the Great Lakes Basin." As part of the agreement, Cornell Cooperative Extension - Delaware County also entered into a three-year agreement with The AgModels Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(5) not-for-profit agriculture public benefit corporation, to provide secure data warehousing services of farm data. In support of its mission, the Foundation aggregates historical data regarding the farm operations of its members and their customers, clients or research subjects, including data relating to the feeding, health and care of livestock for use by members of the Foundation. About Cornell Cooperative Extension, Delaware County: The Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) educational system enables people to improve their lives and communities through partnerships that put experience and research knowledge to work. CCE serves as a fundamental catalyst for promoting quality of life in Delaware County by linking university-based research and innovative land-grant university programming with the talents, enthusiasm and goals of community groups, agencies, institutions, volunteers and our program staff through pro-active planning, focused programming and on-going partnering. About New York City Watershed Agricultural Program: The New York City Watershed Agricultural Program develops and implements policies, procedures and programs to maintain and protect the high quality sources of drinking water for nine million water consumers representing nearly half the state's total population. About the Great Lakes Protection Fund: Great Lakes Protection Fund (GLPF) is a private, nonprofit corporation formed in 1989 by the governors of the Great Lakes states. It is a permanent environmental endowment that supports collaborative actions to improve the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem. To date, the Fund has made 269 grants and program-related investments representing over $78 million to support the creative work of collaborative teams that test new ideas, take risks, and share what they learn. About AgModels, LLC: AgModels provide agricultural producers with tools and technologies to improve their operational efficiencies, environmental footprint, data collection, regulatory reporting and profitability through digital herd management. AgModels, LLC develops desktop, mobile, and database applications and provides consulting services for the effective management, nutrition and care of livestock, and to manage the efficient operations of agricultural enterprises. About The AgModels Foundation, Inc.: AgModels LLC established the AgModels Foundation, Inc. in 2016 as a 501 (c) (5) not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to provide a meaningful dynamic data source for dairymen and the dairy industry to use for research, training future generations of dairymen, and providing real-time dairy based information to those engaged in the agriculture, veterinary, animal husbandry and scientific research industries.
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