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NACAA leadership tours NMSU agricultural facilities

Leaders of the National Association of County Agriculture Agents got a taste of New Mexico's agriculture tradition in March while holding their spring board meeting in Albuquerque.

The New Mexico Association of County Agriculture Agents hosted the group of 13 Cooperative Extension Service agents and their spouses during a day tour of central New Mexico.

Tom Place, superintendent of the Los Lunas Agricultural Science Center, and Ron Walser, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Extension urban small farm specialist, give members of the National Association of County Agriculture Agents board of directors a tour of the experimental farm south of Albuquerque. (NMSU Photo by Jane Moorman)

"Many of our board members were in Albuquerque in 2001 for our national conference, but not all of them had a chance to experience the history and agriculture of northern and western New Mexico," said Rick Gibson, current NACAA president from Casa Grande, Ariz. "So we decided to take time before we got down to business and visit some of the agricultural operations that might be using more traditional farming methods, such as the acequia irrigation systems."

The New Mexican hosts, including Jon Boren, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Cooperative Extension Service interim director, escorted the delegation to an Acoma Pueblo traditional sheep camp, historical Sky City and NMSU's Los Lunas Agricultural Science Center.

At the science center Ron Walser, urban small farm extension specialist, and Tom Place, farm superintendent, gave the guests a tour of the 200-acre farm and told of the various research and work being conducted by NMSU and USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service plant material center, which shares the facility.
Written by Jane Moorman.