Agreement Number
NR243A750011G035
Awardee Name
NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY
Grant Type
On-Farm Trials
Project Title
Technologies to Enhance Climate-Smart Decision-Making in the Malpai Borderlands Group
Awardee State/Territory
New Mexico (NM)
Involved States/territories
Arizona (AZ)
New Mexico (NM)
Award Year
2023
Start Date
End Date
Award Amount
$1,505,320.00
Production/Use
Animal Agriculture and Husbandry
Resource Concern (Broad)
Soil
Resource Concern (Specific)
Soil organism habitat loss or degradation
Conservation Practice(s)
Fence
Project Background
NMSU, USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range and USDA-Southwestern Climate Hub will collaborate with ranchers of the Malpai Borderlands Group to apply grazing land conservation tools and technologies aiming to enhance climate-smart decision making at ranch scales. Dashboards for surveillance of livestock welfare coupled with virtual fencing technology, remote sensing tools, and systems to monitor weather and livestock drinking water will be implemented across ca 800,000 acres of arid rangeland participating in habitat conservation easements, ranch grass bank programs, and landscape restoration initiatives. On-farm trials will document ecological, economic, and management tradeoffs, climate-smart decision making, and ranchers’ confidence for meeting grazing land conservation goals.
Project Scale
Multi-farm
Project targeted to Historically Underserved producers?
Yes
Awardee Technical Contact Name
Santiago A. Utsumi