Field Day goes virtual

COVID-19 wasn't far from the minds of those involved with the Rex E. Kirksey Agricultural Science Center's annual field day. It wasn't just because the pandemic had forced the event to be held virtually for the first time.

The Facebook event Thursday dedicated a moment of silence in memory of Paul Quintana, who died of COVID-19 complications in April after contracting the virus on a cruise ship in Florida.

Quintana, who farmed and ranched in Quay County, was a founding member of the Tucumcari facility's advisory committee and served on it for 23 years.

Leonard Lauriault, forage crop management scientist at the Kirksey Center and emcee of the virtual field day, added a prayer for the nation and society to recover from the coronavirus and follow Quintana's example.

The 75-minute program consisted of prerecorded video stitched together, including Lauriault standing in front of a green screen with the Kirksey Center's entrance sign superimposed in the background.

Leslie Edgar, New Mexico State University's College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences associate dean and director of the agricultural experiment station, noted the COVID-19 pandemic during her keynote speech.

"It is interesting times as we navigate the new norm," she said.

Edgar said the state's 12 agricultural research centers have requested the same $14.54 million in funding for fiscal years 2021 and 2022. The New Mexico Legislature imposed a 4% budget reduction to those facilities during its summer special session. Edgar said the cuts haven't led to layoffs, but she expressed concerns about deeper cuts in the future.

She said agricultural research stations are focusing on economic development, health and food safety, food distribution systems and crop technology. She said food distribution remains an acute issue, especially rural areas designated as food deserts.

Other presentations during the virtual hayride Thursday:

• "Plant and Soil Characteristics Following a Single Manure Application with Strip Tillage" by Murali Darapuneni, semi-arid cropping specialist in Tucumcari. Darapuneni said applying manure to only the strip-tilled area saves about 60% on manure purchase, transportation and application costs.

• "Potential of Guar for Eastern New Mexico" by John Idowu, extension agronomist, NMSU Extension Plant Sciences Department, Las Cruces. Guar is a drought-tolerant legume that holds many purposes. In particular, its gum is used for fracking in the oil and gas industry. A study demonstrated guar is well adapted to the Tucumcari region under irrigation, though it is susceptible to micronutrient deficiencies that can be easily addressed. Yields were maximized with certain applications of nitrogen and phosphorous.

• "Sorghum-Legume Mixtures for Forage" by Gaspar Martinez, agricultural research assistant in Tucumcari. Sorghum is being grown with forage legumes such as cowpea, lablab and sesbania. In 2019, growing forage sorghum with sesbania increased the forage yield when other legumes did not.

• "Cowpea-Millet Mixtures for Forage" by Elora Ellison, graduate student at West Texas A&M University in Canyon. Pearl millet and forage sorghum are being grown with cowpea and tepary bean in 6-inch row arrangements in Tucumcari and Canyon. Results from 2019 at Tucumcari, using only pearl millet, showed planting in alternating double 6-inch rows increased yield over other mixtures.

• "Tepary Beans for Edible Beans and Forage" by Lauriault. Tepary bean is an legume useful as an edible dry bean that is being studied as a forage with a potential equivalent to high-quality alfalfa. Greater nutritional value can be achieved with tepary beans by harvesting at certain stages of maturity. Three studies are under way at Tucumcari to compare the influence of row spacings on forage yield, nutritional value and grain yield.

• "Tepary Beans with Chile-Agave Glaze" cooking demonstration by Susann Mikkelson, NMSU Quay County Cooperative extension agency for family and consumer sciences in Tucumcari. The demonstration was done in lieu of the field day's usual meal.

Sponsors of the virtual field day were Arch Hurley Conservancy District, Farmers Electric Coop, Farm Credit Services and Phillip and Kathleen Box.