New Mexico State University’s Fabian Garcia Science Center will host its annual field Sept. 22, featuring research presentations on cotton breeding, chile peppers, vineyards and guar, along with tours of the Jose Fernandez Garden.
The field day will begin with registration at 7:30 a.m. Sept. 22 at the science center, 113 University Ave. in Las Cruces. Field tours will be offered from 8 to 11 a.m., and lunch will be provided from 11 a.m. to noon.
Among the research topics to be presented are cotton breeding; halophytes, brackish water and human health; guar as an alternative crop; chile breeding; vineyard cover crops, variety trials and improving grape quality; and chile peppers 101.
"We are excited for folks to have a chance to come to Fabian Garcia and see the great research being conducted here,” said Dave Lowry, superintendent of the Fabian Garcia Science Center. “We view Fabian Garcia as a ‘living laboratory’ for our students, and several classes are housed at this science center. It is located close to main campus and students are able to get real field experience just a couple minutes’ drive away.”
Lowry said although Fabian Garcia is one of NMSU’s smaller acreage science centers, there is no shortage in trials being conducted, nor a lack of diversity in the research that the center can accommodate.
“The science center utilizes about half of the farm for ‘traditional’ agriculture, meaning bigger field trials under cultivation and mostly pressurized drip irrigation,” Lowry said. “The other half contains a myriad of experiments, which are housed in an extensive network of greenhouses, micro plots and even algae ponds. There really is no way to sum up the wide array of research being conducted at Fabian Garcia. We look forward to welcoming our stakeholders so they can experience it all for themselves.”
Participating academic and research departments at this year’s field day include plant and environmental sciences; Extension plant sciences; fish, wildlife and conservation ecology; hotel, restaurant and tourism management; agricultural and Extension education, and agricultural economics and agricultural business.
Along with the Jose Fernandez Garden, which is established at the NMSU Heritage Farm, the Fabian Garcia Science Center houses the Chile Pepper Institute and research plots and greenhouses supporting alfalfa breeding and genetics, viticulture, cotton, horticulture, nematology, micro-plot, turf grass water management and onion research.
Masks are recommended for attendees who have not received a COVID-19 vaccine. If you are 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.
For more information about the Fabian Garcia Science Center, visit https://fabiangarciasc.nmsu.edu/index.html.