Overview
Serving the agricultural needs for the San Juan River basin of northwest New Mexico and the Four Corners region, the Agricultural Science Center at Farmington consists of 254 acres leased from the Navajo Nation in 1966. While the major irrigated crop land for northwestern New Mexico is in San Juan County, small parcels of irrigated lands are also found in the two adjoining counties, McKinley and Rio Arriba. These three counties have about 1,800 farms with 198,000 acres of irrigated and 11,000 acres of dry land farming. San Juan County ranks second in the state for irrigated crop land with 150,000 acres or 10% of the state total.
Cash receipts from crop and livestock production in the three-county area is about $96,000,000 annually of which about 50% is from livestock sales and 50% is from crops. In 1997, San Juan County ranked eighth in cash receipts for all farm commodities and the three counties together produced 5.7% of the $1.9 billion cash receipts from all agricultural commodities in New Mexico.
The Agricultural Science Center is located about seven miles southwest of Farmington on the high plateau of northwestern New Mexico. The Center is at an altitude of 5,640 ft above sea level (36º 4' N by 180º W) in a semiarid climate with a mean annual precipitation of 8.19 in. The mean monthly maximum and minimum temperatures range from 40 and 19 ºF in January to 91 and 60 ºF in July. The average frost-free period is 163 days from May 4 to October 14. There are four soil orders within the Center ranging from sandy loam to loamy sand (59 - 83 % Sand) and having a pH of 7.8.
The Center is the only agricultural research facility in the state of New Mexico that is on the western side of the Continental Divide. River drainage is west into the Colorado River, which then continues west and south to the Saltan Sea and Pacific Ocean by way of the Gulf of California. Over two-thirds of the total surface water that leaves New Mexico, does so through San Juan basin in the northwest corner of the state. The Center receives water from the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI). Total irrigated for NAPI comprises about fifty percent of the 150,000 acres of irrigated land in San Juan County and future development will expand NAPI to over 100,000 acres. Irrigated acreage in San Juan County is increasing and when all projects being planned are completed, acreage will climb from 150,000 to about 240,000 acres.
Of the 254 acres comprising the Agricultural Science Center, 170 acres are under cultivation. Over 100 crops have been grown on the Center since its inception in 1966. Many crops, which produce well in northwestern New Mexico, are not grown in the area because of market prices at the time of harvest, high transportation costs to a suitable market, personnel unfamiliar with production practices, etc. The Center currently irrigates crops by sprinkler systems (center pivots, solid set, and side roll). A sub-surface drip irrigation system is in the initial stages of evaluation. Earlier, irrigation systems also included flood but that was impractical on the Center's sandy soils.
Close collaborative links are maintained with NAPI through varietal testing of potatoes, corn, small grains, beans, onions, chile, alfalfa, and other economically important crops. Variety and agronomic research has included winter and spring wheat, winter and spring barley, oats, corn, alfalfa, and crambe. Dry bean variety and management trials, including row spacing and management for white mold control, have been conducted. Fertilizer-type/placement trials and herbicide-type/application trials have been carried out with potatoes, corn, cereal grain, and dry beans in various rotations. Alternative crops evaluated in the past have included soybeans, safflower, kenaf, licorice, buckwheat, sugarbeets, canola (rape), rye, triticale, sorghum, sunflower, amaranth, pasture and other minor acreage crops such as carrots for seed production. Agronomic work has also been conducted in no-till plots and clean-tilled areas as well as intercropping dry bean and soybean in spring wheat. Important areas of study have included leaching associated with herbicides and potential for contaminating drainage water, which affects future crop productivity and ground water draining into the San Juan basin. Past areas of entomological study have included the control of corn ear worm, apple codling moth, and Russian wheat aphid. Weed research has included pre-plant, pre-emergence, and post-emergence applications of herbicides for grass and broadleaf control in alfalfa, corn, wheat, beans, potatoes, onion, carrot, and pumpkin. Water research has determined consumptive use indexes and efficient water application strategies on a number of crops including tomato, chile, potatoes, winter and spring grains, beans, corn, alfalfa, pasture and buffalo gourd. Turf research has included blue grass variety trials, and buffalo and blue grama evaluations for low-maintenance lawns. Horticultural crops evaluated in the past have included chile pepper, lettuce, tomato, green bean, onion, apple, pear, peach, nectarine, cherry, grape, cucumber, pea, pumpkin, winter and summer squash, and Christmas trees. Research at the present time is being conducted on alfalfa, corn, dry beans, potatoes, onions, chile, pasture grass, winter wheat, and spring oats. Major emphasis at the present time is on variety and other adaptive or production research, weed control, crop fertility, irrigation and consumptive-use, herbicide persistence and leaching, and other varied areas of research. Water application research includes determining water use-production functions of the primary crops in the area. This project includes developing and evaluating formulae to predict water application and consumptive use of crops and turfgrass. An 8-acre drip irrigation system will allow the comparison of consumptive use and water use efficiencies of economically important crops under sprinkler and micro irrigation systems. Since the mid 1960's, average county yields of alfalfa have increased from three to more than five tons per acre; corn has gone from 55 to 140 bushels per acre and wheat from 35 to 90 bushels per acre. Potatoes have become an increasingly important crop and production could be substantially increased if a proposed French fry plant is built. With new acreage being put into production each year, new research initiatives are needed primarily in the areas of high value crops, irrigation management, herbicide use, and soils. Buildings on the Center include an office and laboratory building with six offices, a laboratory and a tissue culture laboratory, conference room, head house, and attached greenhouse partitioned into two bays, and a three-bedroom residence with attached garage. There are four metal buildings. The first building is 100 ft x 40 ft with a shop, small office, and restroom in a 40 ft x 40 ft section on the south end and a 60 ft x 40 ft area on the north end for machinery storage. The second building is 60 ft x 20 ft and is partitioned to form three small rooms. It is used for seed, fertilizer, and small equipment storage. The third building is a 20 ft x 60 ft open front machinery storage shed and the fourth building is a 20 ft x 30 ft chemical storage facility. Most of the machinery and equipment needed to carry out field, laboratory, and greenhouse research is available at the Center. Office, laboratory, greenhouse, and irrigated field plots are available to resident and visiting technical personnel. Graduate students may participate in the program. Most research is towards adaptive or applied research programs. However, small breeding programs have contributed to the total program in the past.
The Center also has a two-bedroom trailer-house with two baths. Anyone who uses this facility must furnish bed covers and linens. The trailer is furnished with four single-beds, a stove, a refrigerator, a table, and chairs. Center personnel include three professional and seven support staff. Professional staff are an agronomist, a pest management specialist, and an irrigation specialist. The Center has a farm foreman, two full-time research assistants, a full-time secretary, two full-time field laborer/tractor drivers, and a part-time field assistant.