For more than 800 years, agriculture has been a part of New Mexico's culture and tradition, but in the new global economy, small family farms face enormous challenges. For the last 20 years, the Sustainable Agriculture Science Center has focused on research to help small-acreage farms and ranches thrive in a changing world. Located on the former San Gabriel Ranch in Alcalde, the center works with a Small Farm Task Force made up of 11 counties in north-central New Mexico. As the education and outreach arm of the land-grant system, the center has received national recognition for its work.

With support from the New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service, the Alcalde Center is dedicated to providing practical, research-based knowledge on sustainable agriculture, most of it focused on identifying crops that grow well in the New Mexico environment, along with acequia and pest-control projects with over 60 acres of research, four of them are dedicated to organic farming.

"We work with an advisory committee of farmers and ranchers," says Edmund Gomez, State Coordinator for the USDA National Small Farm Program. "For example, if someone has a sheep herd and wants to market the wool, we'll develop a wool-marketing program and provide workshops." If there's a need for extending the growing season, workshops are conducted on developing greenhouses or hoop houses.

On a windy day last April, NMSU's Ag Center brought its hoop-house program to the El Valle farm of Kay Matthews and Mark Schiller. The program provides the materials at a reduced cost (paid for by the homeowners) and the expertise is provided by the county agent. Homeowners provide a crew for the day's work, and the work sometimes includes the participation of folks who hope to qualify for their own hoop-house project.

"Our hoop house was the most labor intensive and one of the largest NMSU builds, and all it took was one day," Matthews said. Built with PVC pipe and reinforced plastic, theirs was designed with a pitched roof that can accommodate significant snowfalls at higher elevations (El Valle is around 8,000 feet). The traditional hoop house has a domed ceiling instead of curved PVC.

Tomatoes, which normally have a hard time ripening, were a hit during the fall harvest. "Made possible by the hoop house, we grew Brandywine, Pink Accordion and Oregon Spring tomatoes like we've never grown tomatoes before," Matthews said. They were also pickling and slicing cucumbers, summer squash, heritage raspberries that usually freeze before they can be harvested, basil and bell peppers. "We sold all kinds of vegetables to our friends at Sugar Nymphs Bistro in Peñasco and at the Embudo and Peñasco Farmers Markets."

Nearly 33 percent of all farmers and ranchers in the state of New Mexico are Native American. Through NMSU's Outreach Project and its county extension agent, Joseph Garcia, workshops are conducted at the various pueblos. A farmer and rancher himself, Garcia — who runs a cow/calf operation in El Rito — has shown tribal ranchers such as John Mirabal, a third-generation rancher at Taos Pueblo, how to select a breeding bull for the pueblo's herd.

Lee Suina, a farmer at Cochiti Pueblo, is able to plant different varieties of alfalfa with knowledge gained at the workshops. Garcia is helping the pueblo implement a hog-raising program aimed at pueblo youth who will be responsible for taking care of them.

Gomez, a farmer and rancher, knows first hand what it means to no longer be able to farm the land; he grew up on a 6,000-acre ranch in Dulce. When his father sold most of the land to the Jicarilla Reservation, he suddenly found himself unemployed. Today the remaining homestead of 160 acres is surrounded by the reservation.

Many of the area's irrigated valleys are facing increasing pressure to take land and water out of agriculture. "The connection to traditional farming and ranching with an ancient irrigation system is critical to local cultural identity and continuity," says Gomez, who is also Director of the Rural Agriculture Improvement and Public Affairs Project.

Gomez sums up the purpose of both the Sustainable Agriculture Science Center and RAIPAP when he says: "We're here to help these small-scale farmers and ranchers survive any way they can by keeping their lands productive so they can stay on the land."

IF YOU GO

The Small Farm Task Force will host a Pueblo and Community Ag Conference on April 15 and 16 at the Santa Fe County Extension Office, 3229 Rodeo Road. The conference will cover crop production, integrative pest management, forage management and herd health. To register, call 505-852-2668. NMSU Extension Service workshops are held throughout the year at different locations. Annual open-house field days are held during the first week of August at the Ag Science Center in Alcalde. For more information, call 505-852-2668.