[CH] THOUGHT YOU ALL MIGHT WANT TO KNOW
JIUGI@aol.com
Tue, 4 Sep 2001 14:06:35 EDT
.Tuesday September 4 4:26 AM ET
Farmers: Chili Pepper Crops Doing Well
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press Writer
CORRALES, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico's chili growers have begun harvesting their
crops and people around the state are standing in line to get their share of
the steaming hot peppers.
``You know that it's fall when you can smell the chili,'' said Nancy Clark as
she waited in front of Wagner's Farm in Corrales. She was having a bushel of
chilies roasted for her son and his family in Salt Lake City.
This growing season has been good for some farmers but bad for others,
according to biologists and agricultural officials. Some farmers lost their
crops to storm damage, root rot and the invasive curly top virus.
``The curly top was bad,'' said Paul Bosland, professor and director of the
Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University.
Bosland said he saw entire fields infested with the beet leafhopper, an
insect that feeds on chili plants and spreads the curly top virus. But he
said other fields had hardly any sign of the tiny menace.
Growers have had a difficult season in Luna County, where farms have been
plagued by poor pollination along with curly top and other diseases,
extension agent Phil Hibner said.
Hibner said the county in southwestern New Mexico will likely produce about 5
tons of chilies per acre this season, down from 6.5 tons per acre last year.
The county also produced about 5 tons per acre in 1999, and that year was
nearly a disaster for New Mexico's chili industry. Production and value
plummeted more than 40 percent that year because of pests and rough weather.
The 2000 growing season, on the other hand, was one of the best in history,
Bosland said.
Agricultural agent John White said the curly top problem stems from last
year's wet winter. The moisture allowed cool season weeds to spring up,
giving the leafhopper a place to stay until the chili plants started
sprouting in the spring, he said.
Hibner added there's nothing farmers can do once a plant has the curly top
virus.
``They're fighting a losing battle,'' he said.
But the battle seems to be worth it for thousands of New Mexico families that
clamor for roasted chilies each fall.
``You can eat it with anything,'' Albuquerque resident Doug Mitchell said
while waiting for the roaster to spit out his peppers. ``In fact, you should
eat it with everything.''
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On the Net:
Chile Pepper Institute: http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org
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GLENWOOD CITY, Wis. (AP) - The University of Minnesota's veterinary college
plans to run a birthing center at a dairy farm in western Wisconsin starting
next year.
The Emerald Dairy in St. Croix County has 1,200 cows, but its owners are
seeking to expand their herd to 3,200. The expansion would include a 400-cow
barn with a laboratory and classroom that would allow veterinary students to
learn about caring for cows.
``No one in the country has ever built one of these before to this scale,''
said John Fetrow, a dairy medicine professor at the university's College of
Veterinary Medicine. ``We'll graduate better veterinarians, and we'll
generate new knowledge that all dairymen can use.''
The dairy farm and the university signed a seven-year contract for the
center.
The cows are expected to move into the new barn in November. The university
wants students working and studying in the center by January, said John
Vrieze, one of the dairy farm's owners.
The new $2.3 million barn will have 32 cows on a floor, instead of the
typical 100, to make it easier for students to study them, Vrieze said.
``Our students are going to get to diagnose and treat routine disease in
cattle,'' Fetrow said.