Professor gets hands dirty with farming research

STILL POND — The simple definition of an agronomist is an expert in the science of soil management and crop production.

For University of Maryland Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist Nichole Fiorellino, Ph.D. that can take on many different forms.

Because not just in separate parts of the US is farming, soil, and the land different, but one part of the county can vary from another.

The soil in Chestertown, for example, differs from Rock Hall.

Farmers know their own fields on their property, true. But maybe they don’t know cutting-edge techniques and products science comes up with in the lab to assist them. Conversely, those in a laboratory know the cutting-edge techniques and products but can be divorced from the land itself, cooped up, for example, at College Park.

Since farming is science, they rely on each other.

That’s where Fiorellino and others like her come in.

Maryland Grain Producers aptly identified Fiorellino as the “nexus between the farmer board and the university.”

Fiorellino’s job, especially of late, is to go out to the farmers of Maryland, connect with them on their own land, offering suggestions, (not mandates) for more efficient and productive ways to farm.

That may include introducing a new product like a specific fertilizer.

Or running an experiment with on-farm research trials.

While also interacting with the farmers in the process.

For Fiorellino it’s about demonstrating respect for the growers, their profession, their fields, and finding the research to benefit them.

It’s not often easy, she acknowledged.

Some farmers can meet her with skepticism, thinking that nobody from an institution can teach them what they’ve been doing for several years.

But in her six-years on the job, she’s established a reputation of knowledge with humility. She’s grown close relationships with farmers, gaining knowledge in “tailgate conversations,” invaluable to her profession.

That mindset has paid off, and kept her very busy.

Fiorellino, also a Maryland Grain Producers (MGPUB) board member, was recently awarded the Integrated Research and Extension Excellence Award.

Headquartered in Queenstown, MGPUB has funded several research projects with Fiorellino including the state corn variety trials, nitrogen management in high yielding wheat, phosphorus build-up and draw-down in high-P soil, among others.

Her efforts are appreciated by her coworkers. On May 13, she with MGPUB received the Maryland Corner Stone award of the college of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

“It meant so much more because it was peer-rewarded. It just hits different,” Fiorellino remarked.

MGPUB Public Relations Director Jenell Eck McHenry supported that, saying, “the board has always found her proposals to be responsive to grower needs and executed in a manner consistent with grower education.”

This year, Fiorellino’s overseeing studies to evaluate corn yield response to a range of nitrogen application rates.

And in her on-farm trials she’s studying to determine the impact of biological fertilizer enhancement products on corn yield.

It poses the question, where are these products more likely to increase yield across Mid-Atlantic conditions?

When she’s not in the field, she’s networking with other agronomists in the country, where she sees how different they really are.

For instance, in the midwest, farmers are mostly concerned about how they can grow the most, she pointed out.

Here, because we’re on the Bay, we love our rivers and estuaries, and so we try to prevent runoff from fields.

Her job as a Marylander is centered on the productive side, but also the environmental impact of products and techniques.

Global warming, she admitted, is a charged word, but they talk frequently about it. She said, whatever a grower’s view on politics, it’s hard to deny they’re facing strange weather, patterns — “wonky weather,” as she put it.

And so one thing they’re looking into is re-evaluating when seeds go in the ground.

She used soybeans as a good example. They require warm soil to grow. They can’t have varying temps, You can’t have a “fake spring.”

So perhaps now the seeding dates should be pushed back in lieu of erratic weather.

A slight frost, she pointed out in early May hurt some folks harvesting barley.

Along with these kind of factors, are the experiments themselves. Fiorellino understands a farmer’s time is valuable, so when they go on the property to test products or run experiments, they pay them. And Fiorellino sees great value in going to the residence, watching the farmer become participants with the experiments.

For those seeing her interact, getting her hands dirty, it’s hard to believe she didn’t grow up next to cows and chickens.

She was born and raised in southern New Jersey; on clear days she could see the New York skyscrapers. She found her way to the Eastern Shore by first studying animal science at Rutgers University and when she got her Masters at UMD she started working with crop farmers, appreciating their approach to the land.

In college she met her husband, Kent County local, Tim Bishton. She joked, “he imported me I guess.”

Around 2013, they lived in Locust Grove before moving to Still Pond.

She pointed out her residence is an ideal location to mingle her civilian life with business, and she’s grown close to many of her clients. She loves the rural lifestyle, already having futuristic visions of their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Carmella involved in 4-H.

“Whether she knows it or not,” she said with a smile.

Fiorellino enjoys the networking, noting there’s often a disconnect at College Park, and thankful that she can work out of Wye Mills now.

It gives her access to meet the farmers.

As a new Kent Countian there was a period of hazing she reflected on with good humor. But more and more the farmers see her dedication to her work, her honesty, and the respect which goes a long way.

She’s not there to impose the strict dictates of the all-knowing college on them.

“I tell them I’m here to support them. I share with them, but it’s up to them to choose.”

And to share her knowledge.

This year on the Eastern Shore she said it’s looking to a low disease pressure year for small grains, wheat and barley. They’re looking good as farmers hustled to apply protective chemicals.

Dry conditions led to a number of field and combine fires already.

Corn and soybeans are off to a good start, and the hot dry conditions this week will likely stress some corn and soybeans.

This is their busy time of year, irrigation flowing, and she cautions drivers to keep alert of farm equipment while driving.

For a look at the future of farming, and a hint of some of the experiments, the Maryland Grain Producers Commodity Classic, is coming up, July 25; keynote speaker, Jim Wiesemeyer, a frequent speaker on farm policy and trade issues.

And for those interested in getting involved, a field day may be planned in August, open to the public.

Also stop in and say hi to Fiorellino at the 4-H Fair in Kent County July 17-20.