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Gary Warren Fick

Professor

Primary Research Areas

  • animal science
  • applied economics
  • crop management or crop science
  • dairy science
  • ecology
  • environmental sciences
  • land use
  • nutritional sciences
  • plant sciences
  • soil and crop science
  • sustainable agriculture
  • value-added agriculture

Graduate Fields

Research 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.

Educational Background

  • B.S., University of Nebraska, 1965
  • Ph.D., University of California at Davis, 1971

Research Grants

  • MAPPING LOCAL FOOD SYSTEMS POTENTIAL IN NEW YORK STATE: SPATIAL MODELING OF AN EMERGING OPPORTUNITY FOR SMALL FARMERS AND LOCAL CONSUMERS