You are looking at a rare occurence in central New Mexico: vacant land being laser-leveled to make an alfalfa field rather than a housing development. This field is less than a mile from our house, so we will have something green to look it rather than the little boxes Pete Seeger used to sing about. The vertical laser unit on the leveler pulled by the tractor connects with a central transmitter in the middle of the field, giving the tractor operator continuous information about where to move the soil. When finished, the leveling assures that irrigation water will flow properly and drain off without leaving low, wet spots where alfalfa won’t grow. Alfalfa is New Mexico’s number one agricultural crop.