Climatologist touts ZiaMet system at field day

The old adage is everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.

That's not the case with the ZiaMet weather monitoring project, which aims to greatly increase the amount of weather data available in New Mexico, especially in rural areas.

State climatologist David Dubois talked about ZiaMet, a service of the New Mexico Climate Center, as a keynote speaker Aug. 1 during the Rex E. Kirksey Agriculture Science Center at Tucumcari's annual field day. About 90 people attended the event.

ZiaMet seeks to place 200 weather stations across New Mexico to monitor rainfall, wind, temperatures, soil moisture and other data. He said ZiaMet stations would send "near real-time data" to nearby National Weather Service stations. He said such data would help farmers with planting data.

According to a ZiaMet map that Dubois brought with him, five such stations are up or being planned in Quay County, including two in Tucumcari, one in Logan, one near Ragland and another near House.

Dubois invited attendees to make suggestions for other weather-station locations. The website for ZiaMet is weather.nmsu.edu.

While waiting in line for a barbecue dinner served by the Quay County Roadrunners 4-H Club, it was suggested to Dubois that the San Jon region be an area for a station.

He acknowledged he had noted the lack of a station there and would consider making an offer to a landowner in that region to place one.

Research projects

Attendees piled onto hay wagons that would take them to several research projects.

One presentation that intrigued many was by Craig Gifford, extension beef cattle specialist, on the recent use of virtual fencing systems.

Gifford said virtual fencing tests arose out of necessity from last year's massive Black Fire. He said grass in the wildfire area grew back well after monsoon rains, but the U.S. Forestry Service wanted to keep cattle from grazing certain areas of Gila National Forest.

That led to testing of virtual fencing systems from two companies. One offered collars for $225 each; another offered collars for $30 each but with a $10,000 transmission tower.

Gifford said the collars keep cattle contained in an area by using global positioning systems. If a cow strays too close to a boundary, it emits a beep, then a shock if the animal continues.

He tests were ongoing, but the system so far has contained nearly 100% of cows, and only one or two collars have been lost. Gifford said it also took only four days to train the cows on the system.

Gifford said cowboys were enthused by the system because the GPS units enabled them to quickly track the cows' location, especially in large areas or rough terrain.

Alan Porter, operations manager and co-founder of Tucumcari-based Paulita's New Mexico, briefly talked about the center's recent attempts to plant red bell peppers and Roma tomato varieties. Porter wants to increase U.S. supplies of both, as they're key ingredients to his company's food products.

Tomatoes were direct-seeded and drip-irrigated with treated wastewater, but they failed to germinate. Leonard Lauriault, forage crop management specialist, suspected high salinity in the soil led to the crop failure. He said the center will use tomato transplants next spring.

Porter said he was unbothered by the crop failure, noting the path to success often comes after setbacks. His company spent years developing its green chile-based recipes.

Murali Darapuneni, semiarid cropping systems specialist, also suspected soil salinity lead to problems in his research this year into edible dry beans as a possible alternate crop.

Attendees also heard presentations about the effects of biochar or compost applications on soil, plus methods to build and conserve soil carbon.

Research is ongoing, but biochar is showing promising results as a good substitute for synthetic fertilizer.

Also, organic matter - especially from ground cover - leads to more carbon in the soil and a greater ability to store water.

Lauriault spoke about research on winter crops for cover, forage and grain. One of his projects included tests on barley varieties, with the possibility they could help New Mexico's breweries.

Lauriault said treated wastewater from the City of Tucumcari is used for research purposes at the center, but its crops cannot be used for commercial purposes. The center also must spent $140 per acre monthly to monitor soil during such water use.

He said he hopes federal regulators eventually will allow the use of treated wastewater for crops, noting that soil and plants are ideal ways to filter water.

Other items

- Leslie Edgar, associate dean of NMSU's agricultural experiment station administration, said the board of regents recently committed $90 million to address deferred maintenance at its 12 agricultural research centers. She said many of the centers' buildings are 50 years old and older.

That includes $1.6 million to tear down a dilapidated horse building and to raze and rebuild a shop at the Tucumcari facility. Both buildings are about 110 years old, Lauriault said.

- Lauriault said during his opening remarks the center wouldn't hold a pumpkin giveaway during the Halloween season this year. He attributed that to the recent departure of the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce director, plus staff turnover at the center.

- Lauriault acknowledged the presence of state Sen. Pat Woods and state Rep. Jack Chatfield, both whom helped the center secure state funding to purchase equipment - most recently a fourth irrigation pivot.

- Lauriault gave a lengthy list of the center's other research projects and mentioned there was talk of expanding its popular bull efficiency program.