Project Overview
Commodities
- Fruits: apples, berries (other)
Practices
- Crop Production: crop rotation, cover crops
- Pest Management: cultural control
- Production Systems: agroecosystems, holistic management, integrated crop and livestock systems
- Soil Management: green manures, organic matter
Proposal summary:
The Camino de Paz Farm & School in New Mexico is a 10-acre horse-powered farm that hosts a middle school with a farm-based curriculum. The students learn entrepreneurial skills as they staff and manage the farm, with more than 2,000 visitors annually. Records show extensive orchards on the farm from the 1920s to the 1970s, at which point production declined. The purpose of this project is to analyze problems with the existing fruit production through evaluation of the soil and water and to review site-specific successful varieties from the past. Conclusions will be documented and used to expand knowledge and expertise through the farm’s outreach program.
Project objectives from proposal:
*Correct systemic imbalance that has impeded past efforts for increased production.
*Restore fruit production as a key component of the biodynamic farm organism.
*Install wildlife corridors and reintroduce beneficial insects and animals.
*Conserve soil and improve the aquifer.
*Promote good community farming practices.
*Increase added value production and farm viability.
*Enhance marketability and return on farm production.