Inside, you'll find:

• News and Updates
• Upcoming Events
• Research Spotlight: Choosing the Right Corn Silage Hybrid for Your Operations: 2025 Trial Results
• Outcroppings Blog
• Photos

News and Updates

Are you interested in establishing or improving an organic dry bean production system? This course is for you!

Organic Dry Bean Production is a free online short course brought to you by UVM Extension and ECOBEAN: East-Central Organic Dry Bean Collaborative. This course will provide an introductory overview of dry bean production for farmers, service providers, students, and anyone else interested in growing dry beans. 

Course schedule: February 2 - February 20, Mondays and Fridays, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. EST (Excluding President’s Day)

Participants are expected to attend all five virtual class sessions.

Learn about the fundamentals of growing fiber hemp in this research-based course for farmers, technical service providers, and anyone interested in the growing hemp fiber industry in the Northeast. Class sessions will feature presentations from farmers, field researchers, and industry experts. The curriculum topics will primarily focus on best agronomic practices in hemp production.

Course schedule: February 24 - March 17, Tuesdays, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. EST Participants are expected to attend all 4 virtual class sessions.

Read the most updated information about grants and programs that can help support your farm. This webpage provides an overview, and the button below takes you to more details to help you apply for funding.

Upcoming Events

UVM Extension will offer a six-week Nutrient Management Planning (NMP) course this January and February. Specific dates and locations to be announced soon.

Before you can take the course, you must have completed these basic NMP requirements:

• A current manure analysis,
• A current soil analysis (no older than three years) for each field on the farm, and
• A completed Land Treatment Plan (field maps, RUSLE2 values, etc.).

If you are interested in updating your NMP or taking the 2026 course or need assistance completing the course requirements, please reach out to UVM Extension Program Manager Susan Brouillette at 802-656-7611 or 802-524-6501 or Susan.Brouillette@uvm.edu. 

Research Spotlight

Choosing the Right Corn Silage Hybrid for Your Operation: 2025 Trial Results

The University of Vermont and Cornell University run the annual Corn Silage Hybrid Evaluation Program to help farmers and technical service providers make decisions about hybrid selection and expand available data for the agricultural community. In this program, corn silage hybrids are evaluated across several environments to identify those that consistently perform above average across variable conditions.

Results

There are many considerations when choosing the right corn silage hybrid for your operation. Factors such as rainfall, soil nutrients, pest pressure, nitrogen balance, and other stressors can influence how efficiently crops convert growing degree days (GDD) into actual plant growth. 

In Alburgh, VT, the 2025 growing season began with timely planting on May 15^th. The weather turned dry in late July, and the plot experienced mild drought stress during critical pollination and ear development stages, that persisted through the remainder of the season. Overall, this area also experienced lower-than-average GDDs, leading to decreased whole plant and dry matter weight. 

Despite these conditions, hybrids produced silage yields between 18.0 and 27.6 tons per acre at 35% dry matter. Hybrids performed differently in starch, protein, and fiber concentrations, suggesting differences in ear and plant development. By comparing crop yield and predicted milk yield, we identified the hybrids that are top performers in yield and quality. Six hybrids with 85-94 day relative maturity (RM), 3 with 95-98 day RM, 7 with 99-104 day RM, and 6 with 105-110 day RM fell into this category. Graphs displaying this information visually and summary tables identifying these hybrids are presented in the full report. 

In addition, the report shows how hybrids have historically performed in the evaluation across environments and years. This summary can be used to identify hybrids that tend to produce above-average crop and predicted milk yields across environmental and year-to-year variation. 

Outcroppings Blog

Insights from the 2025 UVM Soybean Variety Trial

In 2025, UVM Extension conducted a Soybean Variety Trial at Borderview Research Farm in Alburgh, Vermont. This trial evaluated the yield of 36 soybean varieties ranging in maturity group 0.8 to 2.7. Entries were submitted from six seed companies. Check out the 2025 Conventional Soybean Variety Trial Report and Performance Summary results! 

Tri-State Dairy Exchange Team Explores On-Farm Assessments and Audits in November Webinar

In November, the Tri-State Dairy Extension Team hosted a webinar focusing on on-farm assessment and audit programs available in the Northeast. The session featured Dr. Clem Nash of NOVUS International and Dr. Bill Stone of Diamond V. The presenters walked through the assessment and audit programs their teams offer to dairy producers and showed how the insights from these tools can drive better management, boost productivity, and improve overall profitability on the farm. 

Photos

As we look back on 2025, one of the highlights for our team was welcoming third and fourth-grade students from Alburgh Elementary School to Borderview Research Farm for an early-October field trip. Students learned how to grind einkorn grain into flour, clean seeds, turn hemp fiber into bracelets, and more. We look forward to more time spent teaching people about agriculture in 2026!

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture. University of Vermont Extension, Burlington, Vermont. University of Vermont Extension, and U.S. Department of Agriculture, cooperating, offer education and employment to everyone without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or familial status.