Dairy Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Fellow Tim Terry collaborates with dairy farmers to help design their farms for greater resilience and efficiency in the face of climate change.
As an advisor in the Dairy Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Fellowship (CAMF), Tim Terry worked with dairy farmer Julia Olmstead as she reduced risk on her farm. As the Farmstead Strategic Planning Specialist with Cornell’s PRO-DAIRY, Tim combines his background in dairy management with his engineering expertise to help dairy farmers design sustainable and productive facilities.
Tim decided to participate in Dairy CAMF as a professional development opportunity. His goal was to enhance his ability to design dairy facilities that benefit both the environment and the farm. Tim also wanted to hear about the best practices and technologies available for dairy management to advise farmers better on how to plan and reduce risk and costs on their farms.
One of the primary objectives for farmers in the battle against climate change is increasing on-farm efficiency. Specifically, Tim ensures that his structural designs for farmers are as energy-efficient as possible. Tim believes that “There’s no sense spending extra diesel or gas to get a job done when we can do it differently and save time, effort, and money.”
Improving climate resiliency on dairy farms is another mission of Tim’s. Runoff from rainwater has long been an issue for agriculturalists in NY. “We are seeing rainstorms that have a much longer and more fierce dumping of water,” Tim explained. A challenge for dairy farmers is controlling runoff from this additional rain and preventing contaminated water from entering local water bodies.
While working on the CAMF project, Tim focused on runoff at Midnight Dairy. A creek divides the farm, running through its middle. The creek’s flow can become “violent” during rainstorms, as Tim described. To improve resiliency, Tim worked with the farm to suggest resizing culverts to the farm to suggest resizing culverts to enhance the creek’s flow while preventing clogs that would cause debris, ponding, water damage, and runoff challenges.
As Tim reflected on the future of the dairy industry, he emphasized that people ought to consider the issue of climate change in agriculture in a more holistic sense.” Tim stressed that the entire agricultural enterprise needs to be accounted for, as what takes place in one part of the system influences all other parts of the system. Tim said, “By doing things a little differently in one part, it’s going to make life a whole lot easier in another part.”
Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Fellowship (CAMF) is a program of Cornell University and the USDA Northeast Climate Hub. It supports farmers with climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. The program trains farmers and ag advisors to develop and implement resiliency plans for their farms.
Read the full story: Tim Terry Success Story