Agronomic Crop and Improved Pasture System Development (Roosevelt County)

Pesticides are an important piece of the management tools available to row crop producers, but in order to use them they must have a private applicator’s license. One component of keeping that license is to further their education of proper pesticide use and management. This agent in conjunction with the Curry County Agent and the Bailey County, TX IPM agent hosted a class for those producers that had not received enough credits to renew their license. Twenty-eight producers from two states attended the training meeting and completed their continuing education units and renewed their licenses. Because of their attendance at this class, 100% those who completed their training were better prepared to manage their farming practices and gained knowledge that would improve their business.

This agent was able to assist New Mexico State Entomologist in locating and releasing predatory insects into an organic alfalfa field in the county. This was an extremely valuable learning experience for this agent in understanding more about the life cycle of insects that impact alfalfa production in this county which contributes a large proportion of the forage sales in this county. During the course of the growing season this agent was able to assist local growers identify a new insect in alfalfa fields in this area and with the assistance of state entomologists develop a treatment scheme. 100% of the affected farmers benefited from this assistance and stated they would change management practices to counteract this new pest.

Now in its third year this agent has collected rainfall amounts and forage production data for the entire county. This agent was asked in 2008 by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Committee to assist the Natural Resource Conservation Service in developing a better means of assessing the health of Roosevelt County grazing lands. Eight rainfall and forage production sites were set out across the county to measure precipitation and forage yield. These samples are also analyzed to determine nutrient content and that data passed along to producers in order to make better management decisions. This data will be used by the FSA County Committee to assist producers with grazing losses occurred during a given year. This agent feels this opportunity will greatly benefit county clientele by establishing production data that can be measured and compared from year to year and location to location and establish a useful database for future use. Loss of production can then be evaluated by the County Committee to determine if compensation is justifiable for producers.
This agent has fielded and referred numerous questions throughout the year regarding an array of field crops. Part of this job is to provide resources and access to information not readily available to producers. 100% of the producers serviced this year found answers to their production questions which allowed them to make better management decisions. An effective agent doesn’t have to know everything but they have to be able to access a wide array of information from multiple sources.

This agent has fielded and referred numerous questions throughout the year regarding an array of field crops. Part of this job is to provide resources and access to information not readily available to producers. 100% of the producers serviced this year found answers to their production questions which allowed them to make better management decisions. Questions were answered on wheat marketing and production, canola production and harvesting issues, and high moisture corn production. An effective agent doesn’t have to know everything but they have to be able to access a wide array of information from multiple sources.

Pesticides are an important piece of the management tools available to row crop producers, but in order to use them they must have a private applicator’s license. One component of keeping that license is to further their education of proper pesticide use and management. This agent in conjunction with the Curry County Agent and the Bailey County IPM agent hosted a class for those producers that had not received enough credits to renew their license. Fifty-seven producers from two states attended the training meeting and completed their continuing education units and renewed their licenses. Because of their attendance at this class, those who completed their training were better prepared to manage their farming practices and gained knowledge that would improve their business.

Now in its third year this agent has collected rainfall amounts and forage production data for the entire county. This agent was asked in 2008 by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Committee to assist the Natural Resource Conservation Service in developing a better means of assessing the health of Roosevelt County grazing lands. Eight rainfall and forage production sites were set out across the county to measure precipitation and forage yield. These samples are also analyzed to determine nutrient content and that data passed along to producers in order to make better management decisions. This data will be used by the FSA County Committee to assist producers with grazing losses occurred during a given year. This agent feels this opportunity will greatly benefit county clientele by establishing production data that can be measured and compared from year to year and location to location and establish a useful database for future use. Loss of production can then be evaluated by the County Committee to determine if compensation is justifiable for producers.

Progressive Agriculture Safety Day is a nationally sponsored hands-on learning activity to help youth in rural communities gain exposure to the potential dangers found in and around agriculture. This activity is targeted toward third grade students from Curry, Quay, Roosevelt, New Mexico and Parmer County, Texas and is held on an annual basis in the fall. Progressive Ag Safety Day is an outstanding demonstration of how multiple agencies come together in a region to plan and implement a program that has great educational and safety implications. Participating agencies are local Cooperative Extension Offices, Eastern New Mexico Rural Telephone Cooperative, Home Health Care Agencies, Local Fire and Police Departments, Curry County Farm and Livestock Bureau, New Mexico State Parks Department, McDonald’s, Farmer’s Electric, and the Curry County Health Department.

The safety day is designed with learning stations based on a variety of real life scenarios so that students can gain the knowledge of how to deal with a situation if it arises. Students are exposed to learning stations about fire safety, ATV safety, chemical look-a-likes, electrical safety, lawnmower safety, grain entrapment, water safety, firearm safety, and using 911. This agent is now a co-coordinator for this program and is responsible for overall program implementation and management. Typically 1,500 students, teachers, volunteers, and instructors participate in this two day event. The program has actually received national attention from other safety day coordinators because of its format. The Curry/Roosevelt Camp has the largest single day attendance of any program in the country. This is a major undertaking that would not be possible without cooperation and teamwork. Students that leave this program are aware of the potential dangers connected with agriculture and are better prepared to make intelligent decisions when emergencies arrive.

Pesticides are an important piece of the management tools available to row crop producers, but in order to use them they must have a private applicator’s license. One component of keeping that license is to further their education of proper pesticide use and management. This agent hosted a class for those producers that had not received enough credits to renew their license. Twelve producers attended the training meeting and completed their continuing education units and renewed their licenses. Because of their attendance at this class, those who completed their training were better prepared to manage their farming practices and gained knowledge that would improve their business.

Now in its second year this agent has collected rainfall amounts and forage production data for the entire county. This agent was asked in 2008 by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Committee to assist the Natural Resource Conservation Service in developing a better means of assessing the health of Roosevelt County grazing lands. Eight rainfall and forage production sites were set out across the county to measure precipitation and forage yield. This data will be used by the FSA County Committee to assist producers with grazing losses occurred during a given year. This agent feels this opportunity will greatly benefit county clientele by establishing production data that can be measured and compared from year to year and location to location and establish a useful database for future use. Loss of production can then be evaluated by the County Committee to determine if compensation is justifiable for producers.

The undertaking of this rainfall collection program has also allowed for the collaboration with the Water Resource Specialist based in Las Cruces to collect rainfall data for use with the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) system. With that relationship established this agent set up a CoCoRaHs training for Roosevelt County. Tweleve residents of Roosevelt County Data now collect data for the program because of their participation in the training program. Precipitation data from these collection sites is being used by CoCoRaHS system to establish rainfall patterns across the western United States. This data will be used for a variety of purposes by this collection group. Coordinating this project has allowed has opened a line of communication with producers and has allowed this agent to stay current on issues happening around the county.