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Impact Report

For plan Commercial Vegetable Production (Doņa Ana County)
Date October 19, 2011, 4:19 pm
For Objective Short-term Show short-term objectives
Impact Report Vegetable Program: Chile is the best known vegetable crop produced in Doņa Ana County, NM. In 2010; 25,750 tons of chilies were produced on 2,900 acres of irrigated crop land, with revenues of over $16 million dollars for Doņa Ana County according to the USDA-NASS 2010 Agricultural Statistics. Therefore, the agents’ main focus for the vegetable industry has been in chile peppers. The agents' 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 the agent worked with the NMSU vegetable specialist, Dr. Stephanie Walker and the NMSU pepper specialist, Dr. Paul Bosland, on several chile projects including; the 2011 Chile Conference held February in Las Cruces, NM where the agent acted as a moderator and conducted the annual Salsa Tasting Contest; the Chile Mechanization Workshops, held semi-monthly, and the annual chile meeting held this year in Pearce, AZ. The agent 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, aired Spring 2011 'Red Chile Salsa'; and the Hatch Chile Festival, September 2011. The agents' personal contact with producers has earned him their trust and has resulted in his being brought closer into the chile industry than in previous years. By working through these venues the agent has been able to establish himself as a knowledgeable ally willing to help bridge knowledge from NMSU to/from the chile industry. The second best known vegetable crop in Doņa Ana County are onions. Onions are mainly a winter/spring planting crop with harvesting from May until August. In 2010 Doņa Ana County produced 1,950 Cwt on 3,300 acres of irrigated land worth an estimated $53,430,000 dollars. The agents' objectives for onions were to familiarize himself with this crop which is generally grown as a rotation crop with chile. Therefore, onion and chile producers are usually one and the same. The agent worked with the vegetable specialist Dr. Stephanie Walker to plan an onion field day in 2011. An Onion Field Day was held on July 20, 2011, and the agent acted as moderator for this event. There were around 40 researchers, students, farmers and Master Gardeners present for this event. Demonstration plots allowed attendees to view varieties and their resistance to onion thrips and diseases. The agent was able to meet and greet onion producers and seed distributors to better acquaint himself with the industry.