PROPOSED FRUIT PACKING AND STORAGE PLANT IN THE ESPANOLA VALLEY, NEW MEXICO 

 The Velarde Fruit Growers Association applied to the Northern Rio Grande 

 Resource and Development Committee for Assistance in establishing a fruit packing 

 and storage plant. The association listed the following reasons vhy packing and 

 storage facilities are needed in their area; 



1. The existing packing shed has been destroyed by fire, 



2. Construction and maintenance of a packing house would stimulate the 

 progress of the area and local economy by using local labor, 



3. The area can produce up to 800,000 bushels of fruit a year. 



4. The facilities would help provide fruit of a quality that commercial 

 buyers would pay premium prices for. • - 



5. It would help to establish sales outlets and improve conditions for 

 marketing of fruits. - , 



6. The 41,000 producing trees and the 25,000 coming into production 

 require that a packing shed be established as soon as possible. 



7. A cold storage facility in the area would mean that the growers could 

 store their fruit rather than dump it on the market, thus depressing 

 prices . ■;•...-. 



The RC6cD project work plan published August 1964 reported that there were 

 approximately 4,900 acres of orchards in the Espanola area. About 75 percent 

 of this acreage was in apples, 15 percent in peaches, and the remaining 10 per- 

 cent in pears, cherries, and apricots. It was further estimated that about 

 three-fourths of the area's apple acreage was in coiriraercial orchards which would 

 currently approximate 2,800 acres. ■. 



