Forage Focus 2016

The Ontario Forage Council will soon host the annual Forage Focus 2016 Conference series on Tuesday, November 29th in Shakespeare, and on Wednesday, November 30th in Winchester. The conference will highlight the importance of forages in improving profitability and efficiency, which given today’s competitive economic agricultural climate takes on more importance than ever.

The keynote speaker at Forage Focus 2016 will be Eric Young, Soil Scientist/Agronomist of the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute.

Growing up on a 100-cow dairy farm in the rolling hills of Central New York shaped Eric’s professional focus on applied agronomic and environmental questions within dairy forage cropping systems. After working in the field as an extension agronomist and nutrient management planner, he earned a PhD in soil science (2006) and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vermont from 2006-2009. Eric joined the Miner Institute in 2009 to lead agronomic and environmental research programs and oversee operations for the Institute’s 380-cow dairy research farm with 1000 acres (405 ha). Current research projects span forage production/quality, nutrient management, and field runoff water quality. A major research theme is optimizing nutrient efficiency and forage quality while minimizing nutrient loss. Eric contributes to Miner Institute’s monthly award-winning outreach newsletter (the Farm Report) and gives invited talks in the Northeast region on nutrient and management topics.

Eric, along with his wife, Barbara Storandt, their three children (Max, 9, Maeve, 6, and Clara, 10 months) all enjoy gardening, hiking, and the abundant natural resources of the Adirondack Mountain and Champlain Valley region.