About

Quirine Ketterings is associated with Cornell University and is involved in the Nutrient Management Spear Program (NMSP). Her work focuses on assessing current knowledge, identifying research and educational needs, conducting applied, field, and laboratory-based research, and facilitating technology and knowledge transfer related to field crop nutrient management. Her efforts aim to improve the profitability and competitiveness of New York State farms while protecting the environment, emphasizing the timely application of organic and inorganic nutrient sources. She is also involved in the on-farm implementation of beneficial strategies for nutrient management, including projects related to manure management, greenhouse gas footprint assessment, and biodiversity in agricultural systems. Her address for sample submissions is at Cornell University, indicating her active role in laboratory and research activities within the program.

Research topics

• Agronomy
• Remote sensing
• Mathematics
• Biology
• Environmental science
• Ecology
• Geography
• Geology
• Statistics
• Materials science

Selected publications

• Making sense of your dairy's greenhouse gas footprint

  eCommons (Cornell University) · 2026-03-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Some dairy farm teams are working with their milk coop , processor or advisor to develop a greenhouse gas (GHG) or "carbon" footprint. The footprint includes a GHG intensity score (emissions per unit of fat and crude protein-corrected milk) and an estimate of total GHG emissions (total emissions for the farm). What do these numbers mean and how can you make decisions based on the results of footprinting tools currently on the market? We believe that every dairy farm can benefit from developing a GHG footprint. Annual footprinting will help farmers keep their dairy business current as value chains increasingly ask for this information.

  PublisherOA PDF

• Balancing potassium (K) management of alfalfa. When is too much indeed more than we need?

  eCommons (Cornell University) · 2026-03-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Alfalfa is an important crop for many dairy producers in the Northeastern United States. When managed properly, alfalfa can bring in large quantities of high-quality and high-protein homegrown forage without the need for extra nitrogen fertilizer.

  PublisherOA PDF

• Agronomic and economic considerations for home-grown grains

  eCommons (Cornell University) · 2026-03-01

  articleOpen access

  In New York (N.Y.) and dairy regions with similar climates, interest in dairy farms producing a proportion of their own grains has varied over time but has always been present. Home-grown grains can be viewed as a strategy to control feed cost and inventory, buffer growing season variability through flexible forage or grain harvest, or benefit from economies of scale. While these are valid justifications, careful, farm-specific evaluation is needed to assess their true fit. With environmentally and economically efficient milk production as the primary goal of any dairy business, any discussion on diversification or adding to the dairy operation should center around how the change will advance sustainable milk production. The debate on home-grown grains largely takes place in regions where home-grown forages are the basis of environmentally and economically sustainable milk production. If adding grain production is going to be a net benefit, it cannot come at the expense of the forage system or other critical farm processes.

  PublisherOA PDF

• Adaptive nutrient management makes sense!

  eCommons (Cornell University) · 2026-03-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Have you ever wondered if more fertilizer could have given you higher corn yields? Most dairy farmers would reply with a solid yes, as it is a given that corn needs nitrogen (N) to grow and yield can vary quite a bit from field to field and year to year. However, how do you follow the rules and regulations of a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) permit while managing the risk of making sure you have enough without applying too much and wasting money? And, how can we become more confident with making management changes? The Adaptive Nitrogen Management process, now in place in New York, addresses such challenging situations. The process allows N application with manure or fertilizer to exceed the foundational land-grant university (Cornell) guidelines on a field-by-field basis, if combined with yield data collection and the implementation of an end-of-season evaluation. Appropriate adjustments need to be made in the following year(s) if it turns out that the higher rates did not result in higher yields. In other words, the freedom to experiment with the responsibility to evaluate if the higher rate was warranted.

  Publisher

• Analysis of the temporal evolution of the spectral and spatial sensitivities of a support vector regression maize yield algorithm

  Computers and Electronics in Agriculture · 2025-08-29 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  • Collecting remote sensing data at the tassel growth stage of maize generally leads to the highest estimation accuracy. • Sampling imagery at approximately 670 and 750 nm is critical for achieving high yield estimation accuracies. • Sampling multiple near-infrared bands generally improves estimation accuracies. • Spatial resolution is typically optimized when sampling at the spatial correlation distance of yield within the field. • Estimation results are comparable to much more complex datasets and yield estimation methods. Knowledge of crop yield is essential for evaluating alternative management practices. Support vector regression (SVR) may be a successful algorithm for corn ( Zea mays , L.) grain and silage yield estimation from spectral imagery at multiple scales, i.e., within-field, farm, and regional. The objective of this study was to evaluate time series of spatial and spectral dependencies for SVR-based corn grain and silage yield estimation. Data were collected from two silage fields and one grain field with a 272-band imaging spectrometer, mounted on an unmanned aerial system (UAS). The original 0.06 m ground sample distance (GSD) imagery was spatially resampled to multiple resolutions, up to 30 m GSD. Spectral band selection algorithms guided the creation of ten different spectrally down-sampled datasets to reduce data dimensionality, while maintaining yield estimation accuracy. Both silage and grain yield estimations were most accurate at the tassel growth stage (approximately 80 days after sowing [DAS]), followed closely by the soft dough stage (approximately 110 DAS) and at 16 m and 4 m GSD, respectively. Spectrally, sampling at 450, 550, 670, 770, 830, and 920 nm was most optimal for both grain and silage yield, suggesting that these band centers may be ideal for use in vegetation index development for yield estimation. These results suggest a robust sensing solution for multi-season applications can be developed based on only a select set of wavelengths.

  PublisherDOI

• Putting your field data to work: New end-of-season assessment tool for nitrogen management of corn silage

  eCommons (Cornell University) · 2025-03-01

  articleSenior author

  Optimizing nitrogen (N) management in corn silage production can help improve dairy farm profitability while reducing its environmental footprint. However, managing N remains difficult. Assessment tools and key performance indicators that show us how well N was managed during the cropping season once harvest is completed can be useful for fine-tuning N use over time. Recent work at Cornell University shows end-of-season N balance assessments could be a useful tool to improve N management over time. Comparing individual field results with feasible targets can help farmers identify opportunities to refine N management and support field experimentation through N.

  Publisher

• 61. The Cornell Agricultural Systems Testbed and Demonstration site (CAST) for the farm of the future

  Animal - science proceedings · 2025-10-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Cornell University Ruminant Center (CURC): Beyond the cow

  eCommons (Cornell University) · 2025-11-01

  articleSenior author

  Cornell University Ruminant Center (CURC) conducts cutting-edge research in dairy nutrition and metabolism, reproductive physiology, and management and genomics. The facility was updated in 2013 to better represent modern dairy farm facilities and management and keep research relevant to Northeast dairy producers. It replaced the Teaching and Research Center built in the early 1970?s.

  Publisher

• Nitrous oxide: No laughing matter

  eCommons (Cornell University) · 2025-05-01

  articleSenior author

  Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important greenhouse gas (GHG) but it often takes a backseat in discussions about GHG emissions. This might be because it ranks third for GHGs emitted in the U.S. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is by far the number one GHG, making up 80 percent of GHG emissions. Methane (CH4) comes in second with 11 percent of the U.S. footprint from all sources. But for agriculture, the importance of all three gases is somewhat different than the national footprint.

  Publisher

• Farm-gate greenhouse gas emission intensity for medium to large New York dairy farms

  Journal of Dairy Science · 2025-03-03 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  requires more detailed analysis. The farms in this study represent a considerable proportion of New York's 2022 FPCM production. Greater participation by smaller farms is necessary to draw conclusions for New York's dairy industry as a whole.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Karl Czymmek

  79 shared

• J. H. Cherney

  Cornell University

  35 shared

• Tom Kilcer

  29 shared

• Metin Turan

  Yeditepe University

  25 shared

• Greg Godwin

  Cornell University

  23 shared

• Nizamettin Ataoğlu

  20 shared

• Adem Güneş

  Erciyes University

  20 shared

• Melek Ekinci

  16 shared

Awards & honors

• 2024 Innovator in Agriculture - New York State Department of…
• 2021 Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Facult…
• 2021 NACAA Distinguished Service Award - National Associatio…
• 2018 Northeast Region Certified Crop Advisor Appreciation Aw…
• 2017 Carl Sprengel Agronomic Research Award