Community Profile: Gene Lopez

Farmer in Lyden, New Mexico

Gene Lopez at his farm.

To the gentle sound of rustling leaves in his sunny orchard, apple grower Gene Lopez waxes philosophical about the land he loves in Lyden, New Mexico. "The old folks used to say, 'La agua es la vida.' You go to the desert without water, there's no life. And here, we have water and there's life."

Gene and his wife Rosina have been lovingly growing several varieties of apples and chile here for more than 30 years. As far as Gene can remember, there has always been agriculture in his family. Even though he's retired after 35 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory, he gets up every morning at 5:30am to tend his crops. Gene explains, "When someone says, 'Why do you like to work so hard?' I tell them, 'Because I enjoy it.'"

Gene has proudly come back to his familial roots, agriculture. "Once everybody started working at Los Alamos the agriculture kind of slipped away, and that's one of the things we would like to see come back. If there is no agriculture, there isn't anything. People have to eat. Even people who work at Los Alamos need to eat, believe it or not," he says with a grin.

As Gene recounts, the orchards in the Espanola Valley fell under hard times in the 1970s. There were numerous times that the crops froze and nothing was produced. But the real challenge these days, the way Gene sees it, isn't the weater: It is getting the next generation involved. "Every time we get a chance, we try to enthuse young people to go into agriculture," Gene says. "That's where it all starts. And that's very difficult because the younger generation sees that there is a lot of work involved, and they just don't want to work the way the old folks did."

Gene and Rosina have a good gig selling part of their yearly haul to both Santa Fe's and Albuquerque's public schools. Even though they produce a modest 300 boxes of apples a year, a large distribution company and the state's Secretary of Agriculture are coming to tour their orchards.

As if working his crops 12 hours a day wasn't enough, Gene is also on an advisory board to find a good, permanent location for the Espanola farmer's market. For him, the farmer's market is more than just business. "When I go to the farmer's market and I show my fruit or the chile I grow, it gives me a sense of pride."

The Lopez family is a part of the rich history of agriculture in the river valley between the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Black Mesa. For them, tending their land in this peaceful community is fulfillment. "A lot of people will sit in front of a computer and look at it for hours, and that's not my thing. I like to make things grow. When I pick a great big red apple and bring it in to get packaged to sell, that's real satisfaction for me."