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Impact Report

For plan Commercial Vegetable Production
Date January 19, 2011, 4:38 pm
For Objective Short-term Show short-term objectives
Impact Report Encouraging Adoption of Best Production Practices for New Mexico Vegetable Growers (Oct. 1, 2009 - Dec. 31, 2010): NM Chile Conference (February 2, 2010). Served as co-chair. Played a major role in setting the agenda and coordinating the speakers for this event. International Pepper Conference (September 12-14, 2010).This event is held every two years in different cities in the USA or Mexico and is attended by chile researchers throughout the world. Attendees from 15 countries were present at this year’s conference. I served as co-chair, which included primary responsibility for setting up tours of processing facilities and growers operations, as well as coordinating machinery demonstrations. -Planted, maintained and harvested green chile, jalapeno, and red chile variety trials with seed and funding provided by several seed companies. Onion Field Day (July 21, 2010). Coordinated the Onion Field Day in cooperation with Chris Cramer at the Leyendecker Plant Science Research Center. The event showcased current research and breeding efforts in the onion crop. Furthering Mechanization of New Mexico’s Commercial Vegetable Crops: Coordinated the chile breeding program for improved mechanical harvest efficiency for red chile and paprika, green chile, and cayenne peppers. Breeding material evaluated at Leyendecker included segregating lines, observational lines, and advanced replicated trials. -Red chile and paprika: Evaluated replicated trials of advance breeding material. -Green chile: Evaluated selected plants from segregating populations for yield and fruit and plant attributes. Collected seed from selections either through cuttings, caging or digging up plants prior to frost. Chaired and Coordinated the Chile Mechanization Working Group. Training, brainstorming and informational meetings were conducted regularly for and among chile researchers, breeders, growers, industry reps, and agricultural engineers. The group’s main goal is to coordinate efforts and plan research towards improved mechanization and production of chile in the southwest. Conducted a cayenne pepper mechanical harvest demonstration. October 20, 2010. The test was conducted at the Leyendecker Plant Science Research Center to gauge the potential of cayenne pepper harvest using the Yung-Etgar (Israeli) picking head. Interested individuals, including cayenne processors, growers, engineers, breeders and crop physiologists and communications specialists, were invited and attended the demonstration. Encouraging Sustainable Agriculture Practices for New Mexico’s Vegetable Crops. Conducted the sixth annual WSARE workshop in, “Innovations in Sustainability: Techniques for New Mexico Agriculture”. This event was held in Socorro, NM, in cooperation with Tom Dean, on December 8, 2009. The program addressed primary training needs expressed by agricultural professionals and included direct marketed beef, soil health, irrigation designs, seed programs, and organic production protocols. CENTRA was employed so that individuals could participate via the internet. CEU and CCA credits were provided for participants. Conducted the seventh annual WSARE workshop in, “Innovations in Sustainability: Techniques for New Mexico Agriculture”. This event was held in Clovis, NM, in cooperation with Stan Jones, on December 7, 2010. The program was developed to address primary concerns expressed by eastern NM clientele. Topics included water use efficiency & outlook, dairy production, biofuels, noxious weeds, and nitrogen fixation in legumes. Speakers were enlisted from the State Engineers’ Office, the NMDA, NRCS, and NMSU. Served as the western SARE Professional Development Coordinator for New Mexico. Provided information and guidance in grant writing to researchers and producers throughout the state in their quest to receive funding for various projects. Brought together and chaired the NM WSARE Advisory Committee that consisted of Extension Agents: Tom Dominguez, W. Dee Wear; NRCS: Linda Scheffe; NMDA: Jim Wanstall; Small Farms Task Force: Patrick Torres; Small Farms Institute: Jeanine Castillo; and grower representative: Don Bustos.