New Mexico State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station is kicking off its annual field day season at the Leyendecker Plant Science Research Center May 22.

Attendees will get a chance to learn more about the center’s research, which includes long-term soil health, guayule crops, chile breeding for mechanization, crop rotation and cover crop for suppressing weeds among chile pepper crops, and agrivoltaics to protect chile crops from curly top.

Leyendecker’s field day will begin with registration at 7:30 a.m. May 22 at the research center, 7200 Plant Science Circle in Las Cruces. Field tours will be offered from 8 a.m. to noon, and lunch will be provided.

The field day is free and open to the public.

“Scientists working at the center would be available to answer questions related to ongoing research at the center,” said John Idowu, NMSU Extension agronomy specialist. “Information and updates on best practices for irrigation, soil management and crop production will be shared.”

Agrivoltaics, which has been a popular topic as of late, involves the co-location of solar and agriculture on the same land. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, agrivoltaics is agriculture production, such as crop or livestock production or pollinator habitats, underneath or adjacent to solar panels.

“Whether they are large acreage or backyard farming, it is always our hope that when stakeholders leave our field day, they walk away with some practical knowledge they can implement into their own programs regardless of scale,” said Dave Lowry, NMSU program operation director.

If you are an individual with a disability who is in need of an auxiliary aid or service to participate, contact Autumn Martinez at 575-636-3132 or purple@nmsu.edu . To register, visit https://rsvp.nmsu.edu/rsvp/leyendecker .

Other field days around New Mexico are scheduled as follows:

Agricultural Science Center at Farmington: June 27.

Corona Livestock Research Center: July 16.

Clovis Agricultural Science Center and Rex E. Kirksey Agricultural Science Center in Tucumcari: Aug. 6.

Agricultural Science Center at Alcalde: Aug. 28.

John T. Harrington Forestry Research Center at Mora: Sept. 12.

Clayton Livestock Research Center: Sept. 16.

Artesia Agricultural Science Center: Sept. 26.

Fabián García Science Center in Las Cruces: Oct. 9.

Agricultural Science Center at Los Lunas: Oct. 19.

Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center in Las Cruces: Nov. 15.

The full article can be seen at https://newsroom.nmsu.edu/news/nmsu-agricultural-field-days-kick-off-at-leyendecker-research-center-may-22/s/861643df-2ff1-4a63-b01d-ce077e400a89