The Miner Agricultural Research Institute: Grooming Tomorrow’s Farmers and Scientists

The William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy is grooming the agricultural scientists and farmers of tomorrow.

Established in 1951 at Heart’s Delight Farm, the Miner Institute aims to improve the economy of agricultural operations through a range of efforts targeting both aspiring farmers and agricultural scientists, as well as those who have spent their entire lives in farming or closely related industries, such as animal feed, veterinarians, agricultural consultants, and equipment suppliers.

“There are three components to our mission: research, education, and outreach or demonstration,” said Rick Grant, president of the Institute.

Through its research programs, the Institute strives to apply basic science in addressing problems that regularly confront the dairy and equine industries. “The core goal of our research is to focus on the interaction of crops, agronomy, and cattle usage of those crops,” Grant said.

In 2009, research groups at the Institute conducted studies on a vast array of topics, including the evaluation of effects of stocking rates on dairy cow behavior and metabolism and the effect of forage-fiber source on milk components.

“And we are looking at the environmental implications of dairy farming,” Grant said. “So we look at forage quality or the type of hybrid that we are feeding the cow. We try to optimize the nutrition of the cow. We also analyze management of cow well being and cow comfort.”

Another active area of research at the Institute is nutrient management. “We’ve brought on an agronomist, Dr. Eric Young, who focuses specifically on the impact of the excreted nutrients on soil and water quality.”

With a staff of only about 50 people, the Institute has become a leading source of information on dairy cattle nutrition, developing new and improved methods for measuring the nutritional value of feeds and achieving efficiency in feeding cattle.

“It sounds esoteric, but if you are in the industry, it’s all about trying to prove efficiency so you can get as much, if not more, output from the same amount of input,” Grant said. “And at the same time, that reduces nutrient excretion.”

The research at the Institute focuses on what Grant considers to be the most daunting challenge for contemporary farmers. “It’s all about trying to optimize output and minimize or eliminate the negative effects on the environment, if there are any.”

The research conducted at the Institute is both complementary to and a driving force behind its extensive educational programs, which draw students from across the country and even some international students.

The educational component begins in the spring with the Advanced Dairy Management program.

“These students tend to be dairy science majors and often come from a dairy farm and intend to either go back to the farm or to a closely allied agri-business,” Grant explained. “Because many of these students grew up on a farm, and already know a great deal about farming, we focus on how to interpret research results, how to trouble-shoot, and how to challenge problems you commonly experience on a farm. They take courses in dairy cow nutrition, crop production and management, so it is more of the science behind the common practices that they would see on the farm.”

In the fall, the Institute shifts focus to its program in Agriculture and the Environment, which draws students primarily from SUNY Plattsburgh who have limited knowledge and experience in agriculture.

“These students are typically environmental science majors, and they come here for a suite of courses in anything from field ecology to fields and soils,” Grant said. “A lot of these students go on to fill regulatory roles. For example, they might end up working for the Department of Environmental Conservation, where in the future they might be interpreting regulatory laws for the State of New York. So our goal is to give them an overview of what’s possible on modern farms and what kind of impact dairy farming, for example, might have on the environment in terms of nutrient output.”

The Institute also offers several summer internship programs, including dairy farm management, equine management, and agricultural research. The dairy farm program utilizes the Institute’s Holstein dairy farm, while the equine management students will benefit from the resources at the Morgan horse herd and barn. These programs expose students to the latest innovations in crop, dairy, and equine production, allowing them to understand the on-farm implications of new agricultural technologies.

Students enrolling in these programs are typically finishing up undergraduate studies and planning to pursue additional education, such as graduate school or veterinary school. Frequently, the students in the equine and dairy management programs come to the Institute to gain experience with large animals.

For students pursuing graduate school, the agricultural research program is a perfect first step.

“Students in the agricultural research program gain skills in all of the common research techniques and methods that are used in animal science and crop science,” Grant said. “And that gives these students a good advantage when they go on to graduate school or even veterinary school.”

Regardless of the program, all students who pass through the Institute benefit from the ample research taking place there.

“We provide a significant research experience for them because a large part of what we do is research based,” Grant says. “We try to drive home the point that every management practice conducted on a farm should be supported by sound science. That’s what you have to do to be successful in today’s world of agriculture. And you can see that our educational programs are very much focused on training the leaders of tomorrow’s agriculture.”

Additionally, the Institute offers outreach programs and resources in an effort to bring its research and education full circle through the demonstration of best practices.

“We have onsite workshops and we publish a monthly Farm Report that is distributed to a readership of about 10,000 people regionally, nationally, and even into Quebec,” Grant said. “The outreach and demonstration is all about putting the best management practices in front of the producers and allied industries in terms of crop and forage, cattle, and nutrient management.”

With developments in technology, agriculture is becoming increasingly complicated. As this happens, farmers and agricultural consultants must arm themselves with the latest and most relevant science-based information, according to Grant. “That’s our niche─creating some of the science-based information, but also taking what we know and what other universities have discovered and packaging it into useful programs for the farmers, whether that’s face-to-face or web-based.”

The Institute doesn’t limit its interaction to the farming community, which represents, on average, only about two percent of the United States’ population.

“In some ways, agriculture has become a victim of its own success,” Grant said. “Obviously farmers today are feeding many more people than they did even 20 years ago, let alone 50 years ago. That has allowed less than two percent of our population to be active farmers and ranchers. That means the other 98 percent of people out there have no other real reason to understand agriculture other than that they expect to have healthy food in the supermarket.”

The Institute is hoping to ramp up its efforts to engage the public, especially in Clinton County, which is considered rural but still closely matches the national ratio of farming to non-farming families.

“We are going to continue our work in research and education aimed at the agriculture sector, but in this region one of our goals is to reach out to the non-farming community,” he said.

Grant is hoping the Institute can use the Heart’s Delight Farm Heritage Exhibit as a way to attract members of the non-farming community to come visit the property, as he knows many people from the area are interested in the history of William Miner and the development of the farm. The Heritage Exhibit chronicles Miner’s career in the railroad industry, displays innovations in agriculture, such as hydroelectric power production and drainage tiles, and also the extensive philanthropic history of the Miner family.

“If that can draw the community here in an agri-tourism mode, we can also educate them on what comprises contemporary, science-based farming,” Grant said.

“At the end of the day, we are about educating the farming community and the allied industry with what we hope is best practices and also educating the non-farming community with what is involved in modern farming and the role that agriculture has to play in contemporary society.”