NMSU Science Centers Provide Ag Community with Research-Based Solutions by Jane Moorman, New Mexico State University
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ew Mexico’s $3.17 billion agricultural industry is as diverse as the state’s environmental conditions. With four crop production regions, 11 plant hardiness zones, five defined watersheds and 126 distinct soil types in New Mexico, agricultural production varies from the north to the south, and the east
to the west. As the state’s land-grant university, New Mexico State University (NMSU) and its College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences (ACES) supports fundamental and applied research to meet the agricultural and natural resource management needs of communities in every part of the state. The Agricultural Experimental Station (AES) is a system of scientists who work in facilities on the main campus in Las Cruces and at the 12 agricultural science and research centers located at Farmington, Mora, Clayton, Tucumcari, Clovis, Alcalde,
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Los Lunas, Corona, Artesia and Las Cruces. “These science centers are located strategically throughout the state to support research in New Mexico’s varied environmental conditions, such as soil types, elevation, growing season, and water availability,” said Leslie Edgar, NMSU’s College of ACES associate dean and director of the Agricultural Experimental Station. “If agricultural research was confined to the Las Cruces area, the findings would not be applicable to producers around the state.” At these facilities, scientists are able to study practices and effects at basic and applied scientific levels in a real-world setting due to the crop fields, laboratories, and livestock facilities at the centers. Research is focused across four broad themes — plants, animals, energy and the environment as it applies to the full spectrum of agricultural operations from the small acreage farms and ranches in north and central New Mexico, to the large-acreage farms and rangeland ranches throughout New Mexico.
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Don Bustos of Santa Cruz Farms in Española has taken the knowledge he gained from NMSU’s Sustainable Agriculture Center at Alcalde to turn the four-and-a-half acres of land his family has farmed for 400 years into a successful organic produce farm with an annual six-figure income. “It was the research being done at Alcalde that got me into strawberries, blackberries and asparagus, which are our big money makers,” Bustos said, adding these were the top sellers of the 72 different types of produce grown on the farm. Bustos implemented season extension techniques after viewing the demonstration greenhouses at Alcalde. “We produce hundreds of pounds of greens during the winter,” he said of the results of adopting these practices. Improving the state’s cow/calf herd is one of the goals of NMSU research. The Tucumcari Bull Feed Efficiency Test, established in 1961 at the Rex E. Kirksey Agricultural Science Center at Tucumcari, is the longest-running study in the United States. The Heckendorn family J-C Angus Ranch in Moriarty has been involved with the program for 40 years. “As a result of the bull test, we have seen over the years tremendous progress in our herd, with improved weight gain and feed continued on page 91 >>
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