Note: This site is for reviewing legacy plan of work data from 2007-2011. If you are looking for the current plan of work interface, visit pow.nmsu.edu.
Impact Report
| For plan | Integrated pecan production systems |
| Date | January 8, 2009, 5:09 pm |
| For Objective | Short-term Show short-term objectives |
| Impact Report | The “Pecanigator”. The “Pecanigator” is an irrigation scheduling device designed by a team of NMSU researchers and extension personnel. The original design was a cardboard “slide rule”, but now is available online. It is designed specifically for increasing pecan profitability per acre-foot of irrigation water applied under the conditions of Dona Ana county (where 70% of New Mexico’s pecan acreage is found), but may also be used in most of New Mexico’s other pecan producing counties. In informal surveys, growers have been overwhelmingly positive about this device. One prominent, mid-scale pecan grower from the Mesilla Valley has informed me that he had tried unsuccessfully to develop a similar device on his own—he now uses the online “Pecanigator” to schedule irrigations for his orchards. A Mesilla Valley certified organic pecan grower has said, “I want to get [“Pecanigators”] out to some of these small organic (and some conventional farms) that think 4 irrigations per season suffice--then they whine when they grade out 52%!!! I saw the device at the NM Pecan Growers workshop. Simple and easy to use.” NMSU CES agriculture/horticulture agents in all New Mexico counties with appreciable pecan acreage have expressed to me that the “Pecanigator” is extremely useful for growers in their counties—but agents in eastern and northern pecan-growing counties have expressed a need to adapt it for conditions particular to their counties. |