Fick, Gary Warren
Professor
Dr. Fick has studied the ecology and management of forage crops since he came to Cornell University. He has been especially interested in alfalfa and in methods of predicting alfalfa forage quality as the crop is growing in the field. In addition, he has been teaching three or four subjects each year related to forage crops, sustainable agriculture, and research methods. His present research includes the study of sustainable land allocations to support a balanced local food system. He is an academic advisor, having served over 165 undergraduate and 65 graduate student advisees, an author with over 295 scientific publications and abstracts, and an editor with service to 14 scientific journals.
research
research and scholarship focus
Dr. Fick?s present research addresses three problems. The first is the development of forage quality prediction and valuation procedures focused on the refinement of the Cornell FORVAL computer program for hay and silage pricing. The second is linked through his graduate student Steve Culman to the work of the Land Institute in Kansas studying the nitrogen dynamics of prairie grasslands and farmland developed from those grasslands. He also works with post-doc Christian Peters addressing the potential for enhancing local food systems in New York State. Spatial modeling is used to simultaneously consider land availability, sustainable crop production, optimal economic use of land, human population distributions, and dietary options to estimate ?foodsheds? for population centers. The procedures allow the determination of the area and location of land needed to provide different kinds of diets.
primary investigator of
research areas
- animal science | collaborative research area (CALS)
- applied economics | collaborative research area (CALS)
- crop management or crop science | collaborative research area (CALS)
- dairy science | collaborative research area (CALS)
- ecology | collaborative research area (CALS)
- environmental sciences | collaborative research area (CALS)
- land use | collaborative research area (CALS)
- nutritional sciences | collaborative research area (CALS)
- plant sciences | collaborative research area (CALS)
- soil and crop science | collaborative research area (CALS)
- sustainable agriculture | collaborative research area (CALS)
- value-added agriculture | collaborative research area (CALS)
domestic geographic focus
- New York State | state
submitted impact statement
- Mapping "foodsheds" and "foodprints" to explore the potential of local food systems | 2007 Impact statement
- Mapping "foodsheds" to meet human nutritional needs; how local food systems can enhance healthy communities | 2006 Impact statement
- Alfalfa quality prediction for whole dairy farm management systems | 2005 Impact statement
- Mapping "foodsheds" to meet human nutritional needs | 2004 Impact statement
- Alfalfa quality prediction for whole dairy farm management systems | 2004 Impact statement
- Improved methods for evaluating predictive models | 2004 Impact statement
affiliations
faculty appointment in
- Crop and Soil Sciences (CSS) | Cornell department
member of graduate field
- Conservation and Sustainable Development | minor graduate field
- International Agriculture and Rural Development | graduate field
- Soil and Crop Sciences | graduate field
teaching
teaching focus
Dr. Fick teaches the undergraduate courses in "sustainable agriculture" (CSS 190, 3 credits) and "forage crops" (CSS 312, 4 credits) and the graduate course in research methods (CSS 690, 1 credit). He teaches CSS 690 with Hugh Gauch, author of Scientific Method in Practice, which is the text for the course. He often offers a teaching experience course (CSS 498, 1 credit) in conjunction with CSS 190. In this course students prepare poster lessons on sustainable agriculture and present them at Ithaca High School. His own book, Food, Farming, and Faith, recently has been the basis for a special topics course (CSS 494, 1 credit) that takes a holistic view of sustainable agriculture including the perspectives of several religions.
teaches
- CSS 1900 - Sustainable Agriculture: Food, Farming, and the Future (TR 10:10:AM-11:00:AM) | fall 2009 class
- CSS 6980 - Graduate Teaching or Extension Experience (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
- CSS 7910 - Graduate-Level Thesis Research in Crop Science (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
- CSS 7970 - Graduate Individual Study in Crop and Soil Science (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
- CSS 8900 - Master's-Level Thesis Research in Crop Science (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
- CSS 9910 - Doctoral-Level Dissertation Research in Crop Science (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
- CSS 4910 - Food, Farming, and Personal Beliefs (R 02:30:PM-03:20:PM) | spring 2009 class
- CSS 6900 - Scientific Method in Practice (TR 01:25:PM-02:15:PM) | spring 2009 class
- IARD 4910 - Food, Farming, and Personal Beliefs (R 02:30:PM-03:20:PM) | spring 2009 class
- CSS 1900 - Sustainable Agriculture: Food, Farming, and the Future (TR 10:10:AM-11:00:AM) | fall 2008 class
service
outreach focus
Dr. Fick has no formal extension appointment, but his research activities are oriented toward practical applications and generally include extension personnel as collaborators. The Cornell FORVAL computer program is available online for use in the field (http://forval.css.cornell.edu/). His extension publication with Sharon Mueller is the crop science standard for staging alfalfa (http://www.css.cornell.edu/extension/AlfalfaBulletin.pdf).
background
educational background
- B.S., University of Nebraska, 1965
- Ph.D., University of California at Davis, 1971
Keywords: agriculture, alfalfa, forage crops and crop ecology, forage economics, forage quality, forages, grassland nitrogen dynamics, land use, local food, pasture, scientific method, sustainability