The video unit from the New Mexico State University Department of Innovative Media Research and Extension (IMRE) has released a new video focusing on specific factors that affect soil health in arid and semiarid farming systems, such as tillage and cover.
“Soil Health on Arid and Semiarid Farms: Tillage and Cover” provides a resource for farmers to assist them with land management practices as they face issues related to soil health.
Art Ruiloba and Tomilee Turner, video producers, and Amy Smith Muise, writer and instructional designer, collaborated on the video with Dr. Caiti Steele, Project Director for Agroecosystem Resilience In Times of Drought (ARID), along with co-PIs of the ARID project Dr. Kate Zeigler, of Zeigler Geologic Consulting, and Dr. Rajan Ghimire, agronomist, NMSU Agricultural Science Center at Clovis.
The IMRE trio took footage in both southern New Mexico and the high plains of Northeastern New Mexico, a place of interest for this video, and interviewed producers and scientists, including Dr. Glenn Duff, Superintendent of the Clayton Livestock Research Center (one of twelve NMSU Agricultural Research Centers operated throughout the state). Dr. Duff is a professor of Animal and Range Sciences in the College of ACES and a local farmer and rancher in Clayton, New Mexico.
The crew shot video of high-plains cropping and forage systems and talked with Dr. Duff about farming and ranching issues, and changes taking place due to climate change and water shortages. He addressed the use of alternative soil health management systems that can reduce erosion, improve water infiltration and build soil fertility in the southern high plains.
The video producers also relied on the expertise of Dr. John Idowu, Extension Agronomist and Associate Professor in NMSU’s Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences. Dr. Idowu provided research knowledge of soil health in agroecosystems, tillage management, and strategies for cover cropping in arid and semi-arid farming systems. He is featured on location at Leyendecker Plant Science Research Center in La Mesa, New Mexico.
This video is one of a series of videos being produced by the IMRE video unit for the ARID project. The project supports ranchers, farmers, land managers, and scientists who work together on drought planning, and response, and support agricultural resilience strategies. It focused on arid and semi-arid landscapes in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado and the greater Southwest.
You can watch this video online at:
Follow the ARID project on social media: https://www.facebook.com/AgroEcoResilience/
For additional state-by-state information about soil conservation in Oklahoma, Colorado, and New Mexico, see:
Oklahoma https://conservation.ok.gov/
Colorado https://ag.colorado.gov/conservation
New Mexico
This work was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture, grant number 2018-68002-28109, Participatory approaches to Agroecosystem Resilience In times of Drought (ARID): An example from the Southern Great Plains.
IMRE (https://innovativemedia.nmsu.edu/) shares research-based information through educational and promotional multimedia and videos to support statewide and local programs that are important to the communities and residents they serve
Written by Art Ruiloba, Video Production Specialist, Innovative Media Research and Extension.