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Impact Report

For plan Producing Sustainable Agronomic Crops in New Mexico (Quay County)
Date November 2, 2010, 3:33 pm
For Objective Short-term Show short-term objectives
Impact Report Quay county ranks in the top ten counties in wheat production counties in the state. Similarly, alfalfa and other forage crops remains the largest agricultural commodity grown in the area. This years accomplishments for sustainable Agronomic crops reaches a large audience among a varied program. Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) provided an educational curriculum titled “Living on the Land – Stewardship for Small Acreage Land Owners”. The curriculum covers ten major topic areas and further covers them in detail over twenty four lessons. Subject modules include, Your Living Soil, Inventory of Resources, All Life Depends on Water, and Love Your Grass as Much as Your Animals, along with several other topic areas, all pertaining to healthy land stewardship. The overall program was open for participants to register for the whole course or attend certain classes that most interested them and their situation. Classes began in November meeting every week. Sessions included several guest speakers both local and NMSU specialist. Attendance was an average of 17 participants with 12 producers attending all sessions and completing the entire program. Overall acreage owned collectively by all participants totaled 5800 acres over throughout the county. Evaluations for the program were retrospective post on each of the topics covered in its entirety. Participants were able to rate their knowledge on a given topic before the program and rate themselves after the program on knowledge gained on a five point scale from least to greatest. Overall knowledge gained rated by participants was 87% with all participants stating they learned something new from each of the lessons. Ninety eight percent (98%) of participants stated they would use the information they gained on their respective places. All participants were pleased with the overall program, its content and informational modules. Additional progress in educational programming for Sustainable Crops was a two part series of Wheat Production Workshops held in Quay County along the Caprock area for dry cropland producers. The series included a Spring and Fall wheat production workshop hosting NMSU Research station Extension specialist. Topics covered included management issues for each respective season of wheat production. Spring topics included seeding rates, weed control, and variety selection. Fall subject matter included pest management, harvest management and the evaluation of a wheat variety plot planted with the cooperation of a local area producer. This variety plot was demonstrated with a real world production scenario in mind. Varieties were suggested to the team from local and area producers. The cooperator did not alter the plot but was treated under normal dryland production practices. Harvest data for the respective varieties compared to old standby varieties were available in June 2010.