Agriculture & Horticulture
Woods Houghton, Agriculture Agent
1304 W. Stevens
Carlsbad, NM 88220
Phone: 575-887-6595
Fax: 575-887-3795
Email:
whoughto@nmsu.edu
Eddy County has a total population of 51,568 with a median income of $31,228. It is the 7th largest county in cash receipts in New Mexico at more than $101,100,000. Eddy has over 900 women-owned businesses, and a homeownership rate of 73%. Livestock production including dairy, beef and sheep production is the largest contributor to gross receipts. The towns of Artesia and Carlsbad, along with Carlsbad Caverns, Lincoln National Forest, Sitting Bull Falls and the Living Desert State Park are within the county.
Ninety percent of Eddy County is classified as rangeland. In addition to traditional range management issues and programs, conflicts often arise between ranchers, environmentalists and land management agencies regarding goals and objectives of natural resource management. This is especially true on federal land and state trust land. Agencies are not going to monitor ranges, as intensely in the future and therefore the rancher should implement a monitoring program on his ranch in self-defense. Additionally, monitoring programs will allow management decisions to be made in an informed manner. Livestock and wildlife interaction continues to be a major challenge in keeping ranges properly stocked when wildlife numbers, such as deer, and antelope, continue to expand. Poisonous plants have always been a problem to New Mexico ranchers. Toxic plants inflict about 1/8million loss on the Eddy County's livestock industry annually. Direct losses are the most obvious. Indirect losses such as loss of carrying capacity, low eaning weights and reduced calf or lamb crops are less obvious but are a greater economic drain.
IPM In New Mexico
Ranked by annual cash receipts for Eddy County, alfalfa, cotton, chile, pecan nuts, various greenhouse/nursery crops, corn and small grains contribute 63.83 million dollars to the economy. The boll weevil, pink bollworm, cotton bollworm and cotton aphids resistant to various insecticides have become key pests for the states cotton crop. While genetically engineered cotton cultivars are now available to the Eddy County producers, the added Bacillus thuringiensis genes protect the developing bolls only to a point from caterpillar problems. Alfalfa weevil, three species of aphids, and occasional caterpillars continue to plague the alfalfa crop; cyclic populations of grasshoppers and blister beetles cause occasional crop losses and, in the case of blister beetles, subject growers to legal liabilities and additional economic losses. Several species of aphids plus additional arthropods, diseases and weed pests are annual problems for corn, small grain, nut and fruit crop producers. In the last five years, European corn borer has been etected infesting corn in Eddy County. Pecan nut casebearer has become well established in pecan groves and yard trees throughout Eddy County. Pepper weevils, various caterpillars and whiteflies are major threats to both the fresh and processed chile markets in Eddy County.