Alcalde Agricultural Science Center

U.S. farmers are looking for new crops that will help diversify their farms and increase their profits. Most irrigated agricultural land in northern New Mexico is cultivated by small-scale farmers and ranchers with fewer than 20 acres. Also, northern New Mexico faced water deficit conditions especially in recent years due to climate changes. Now traditional crops are no longer economical for the farmers, thus high value, low-input plants gain their importance. More...

Late frosts challenge fruit production each year in central and northern New Mexico. An NMSU researcher is evaluating alternative fruit crops that can produce a reliable crop annually. Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.), also called Chinese date, originated in China and has been cultivated for over 4000 years. There are scattered trees from Espanola to Albuquerque to Las Cruces in New Mexico and they all grow and produce well. But there are only 5-6 cultivars commercially available with ‘Li’ being the dominant one. Growers and consumers all demand more diversity in jujube cultivars for different purposes. More...