Prepared by the non-profit Crossroads Resource Center and based on publicly available data, the 46-page
New Mexico Farm & Food Economy assembles statewide data on agricultural income, production expenses and information on food-related sectors, personal income, and health.
The report found that over the last 50 years NM farmers spent $14 billion more on animal feed than they sold, and $10 billion buying agrochemicals, petroleum products and agricultural inputs sourced out of state each year. Due to these ever increasing costs, there has been no gain in net cash income for farmers over the last 50 years. Building soil health is an opportunity for farmers and ranchers to gain independence from costly inputs and become prosperous again.
The data also demonstrate that at the same time hunger has increased. SNAP benefits (food stamps) are now at $600 million. New Mexicans spend $6.5 billion each year on food sourced from out of state. Ken Meter, author of the report, summed up “New Mexico has a $6.5 billion opportunity to grow food for its own people.”
Another finding of the report is that organic product sales rose 365% from $8.6 million in 2012 to $40 million in 2017, suggesting that New Mexico would further gain economically by building soil health while providing more wholesome food for New Mexicans.
Policy recommendations from the NM Healthy Soil Working Group have 5 major goals:
● Advance public health and food security in response to COVID 19 and for long-term;
● Create prosperity and jobs in agriculture, spurring local economic development;
● Honor farmers and ranchers and their adoption of healthy soil principles;
● Develop greater water retention, climate leadership and ecological well being;
● Embrace social equity, including by engaging diverse and frontline communities in policymaking, to achieve the vast multicultural potential of the Land of Enchantment.
“It’s unacceptable New Mexico is classified as a food desert and so many are food insecure while 97% of food grown here is exported and farmers are barely getting by,” said Robb Hirsch, Co-Founder of the New Mexico Healthy Soil Working Group, and Executive Director of the Climate Change Leadership Institute, which commissioned the report.
The Working Group’s recommendations include boosting the New Mexico Department of Agriculture Healthy Soil Program; shortening supply chains from New Mexico farmer to New Mexico consumer; establishing a public bank that will keep dollars in the state and support soil-building producers; increasing marketing of locally raised products under management for soil health; setting state guidelines around food waste salvage and composting; protecting essential food system workers; and advancing self sufficiency and food security in NM while respecting our state’s many cultures and traditions.
“What we see in this study is a ripe opportunity to meld hunger mitigation, environmental resilience and economic development by redirecting dollars spent on costly inputs from out-of-state and investing instead in soil health,” said Christina Allday-Bondy, Co- Founder of the New Mexico Healthy Soil Working Group.
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