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Impact Report

For plan Commercial Vegetable Production (Doņa Ana County)
Date October 25, 2010, 7:32 pm
For Objective Short-term Show short-term objectives
Impact Report Vegetable Program: Chile is the largest vegetable crop produced in Doņa Ana County, NM. In 2008; 20,600 tons of chilies were produced on 3,200 acres of irrigated crop land, with revenues of $14.5 million dollars for Doņa Ana County according to the USDA-NASS 2008 Agricultural Statistics. Therefore, my main focus for the vegetable industry has been in chile peppers. My objectives for this year were to better understand production problems that farmers are facing, (i.e. phytophthora root rot, nematodes, bacterial leaf spot, green chile harvesting), and to help provide research based information to farmers on these problems. This past year I worked with the NMSU vegetable specialist, Dr. Stephanie Walker and the NMSU pepper specialist, Dr. Paul Bosland, on several chile projects including; the 2010 Chile Conference held February in Las Cruces; the Chile Mechanization Workshops, semi-monthly; and the International Pepper Conference, September 2010. I also worked with; KRWG-TV on the filming of Chile in New Mexico for the PBS series ‘Road Trip’ an agricultural based series touring various agricultural crops produced in New Mexico; and the Hatch Chile Festival, September 2010. My personal contact with producers has earned me their trust and has resulted in me being brought closer into the chile industry than in previous years. By working through these venues I have been able to establish myself as a knowledgeable ally willing to help bridge knowledge from NMSU to/from the chile industry. The second major vegetable crop in Doņa Ana County is onion. Onions are mainly a winter/spring crop with harvesting from May until August. In 2008 Doņa Ana County produced 1,976 Cwt on 3,500 acres of irrigated land. My objectives for onions were to familiarize myself with this crop which is generally grown as a rotation crop with chile. Therefore, onion and chile producers are usually one and the same. I took the time to visit the Skyline Packing Warehouse in Hatch, NM to visit with producers, educate myself on onion harvesting, and have a chance to tour the facility in May 2010. An Onion Field Day was held in August 2010, demonstration plots allowed attendees to view varieties and their resistance to onion thrips and diseases. I was able to meet and greet onion producers and seed distributors to better acquaint myself with the industry.