Spanish Heritage Orchard Will Preserve Traditional Fruit Varieties

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A Spanish-heritage orchard to be planted in Dixon will preserve traditional fruit varieties. New Mexico State University's Anna María Pérez-Wright has details.

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Spanish colonial-era fruit varieties such as apples, peaches, pears and apricots are scattered throughout tiny orchards across New Mexico, but many of these aging trees—whose origins often date back centuries—are dying out. To preserve them, researchers from New Mexico State University's Agricultural Science Center at Alcalde will plant the state's first Spanish Heritage Orchard in Dixon. Fruit specialist Ron Walser says N-M-S-U will work with local partners to collect as many traditional varieties as possible for grafting onto new rootstock.

"We want to collect some of these varieties and get them propagated before we lose them…particularly interested in looking at old colonial varieties that maybe the Spanish brought in and look along the Camino Real."

Walser says most of the old varieties are sweet and tasty, and have many qualities modern apples don't, such as disease and pest resistance, long storage life and processing and cooking qualities.

"There's quite an interest for some of these, particularly because of the excellent eating qualities that some of them had, or cooking qualities or other type of qualities that really don't exist in some of our modern apples. So there's a niche market there and an expanding niche market."

Once established, the orchard will provide stock for local growers while offering a living science and history learning center for children and adults. For N-M-S-U's College of Agriculture and Home Economics, I'm Anna María Pérez-Wright.