HOUSE MEMORIAL 61

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2018

INTRODUCED BY

George Dodge, Jr.

A MEMORIAL

ENCOURAGING THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO PROTECT PROGRAMS VITAL TO NEW MEXICO'S ECONOMY AND TO NEW MEXICO FAMILIES FUNDED BY THE 2018 FEDERAL FARM BILL.

     WHEREAS, New Mexico's agrarian roots are thousands of years old, and for the last five hundred years, diverse cultures have cultivated and been sustained by farming and ranching; and

     WHEREAS, today, the New Mexico agriculture sector provides food, fiber and fuel to consumers around the globe; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico agriculture sector is one of the state's principal economic drivers, with a total output valued at more than three billion dollars ($3,000,000,000) annually, in addition to directly supporting more than twenty-three thousand jobs; and

     WHEREAS, as requested by a 2017 house memorial, the New Mexico state university cooperative extension service and New Mexico first developed the resilience in New Mexico agriculture strategic plan, in order to systematically address the unprecedented issues facing the agriculture sector; and

     WHEREAS, after thirteen regional meetings, task force deliberations and public comment, the resilience in New Mexico agriculture strategic plan recommends strategies to achieve greater agricultural and natural resources resiliency, as well as a secure future for the generations of farmers and ranchers to come; and

     WHEREAS, imperative to New Mexico agriculture's resilience and New Mexico's economic vitality is a broad array of food and development programs, administered by the United States department of agriculture, through the federal Agricultural Act of 2014, known as "the farm bill", authorized by the United States congress approximately every five years; and

     WHEREAS, congress is considering legislative action for the 2018 federal farm bill; and

     WHEREAS, the resilience in New Mexico agriculture task force believes that the federal farm bill is vital to New Mexico and to the health, safety and well-being of its communities and of its residents, as well as to the goals and strategies of the working group; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has long been the "chile capital of the world", and New Mexico has become the seventh-highest milk-producing state and one of the top three pecan-producing states in the nation; and

     WHEREAS, dairy farmers and other commodity growers must navigate risks not faced by other private businesses in New Mexico, and the federal farm bill enables the farm credit system to provide disaster assistance, crop insurance, margin protection and other risk-management tools that provide an income safety net; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has the second-highest acreage in enrollment in the conservation stewardship program, and the federal farm bill contributed nearly forty million dollars ($40,000,000) in 2016 to farmers' and ranchers' voluntary conservation initiatives to prevent soil erosion, preserve and restore wetlands, clean the air and water and enhance wildlife; and

     WHEREAS, in 2016, New Mexico shared with other states part of two hundred forty-three million dollars ($243,000,000) authorized for export initiatives, such as the market access program and foreign market development program; and

     WHEREAS, the federal farm bill provides food assistance and nutrition education to families and enables low-income children and seniors to access fresh, healthy foods through programs like the supplemental nutrition assistance program; and

     WHEREAS, in fiscal year 2016, the supplemental nutrition assistance program provided about six hundred ninety million dollars ($690,000,000) in food benefits to a monthly average of more than four hundred seventy-one thousand New Mexicans, creating a multiplier effect of one dollar eighty cents ($1.80) for every one dollar ($1.00) invested in the supplemental nutrition assistance program; and

     WHEREAS, thanks to the federal farm bill, the United States department of agriculture rural development invested more than seven hundred million dollars ($700,000,000) from 2009 to 2015 to stimulate job and economic growth in New Mexico's rural and tribal areas; and

     WHEREAS, federal-farm-bill-funded research and extension programs delivered by New Mexico state university empower large and small agricultural operations to compete with and outperform farmers in other countries by being more efficient, more innovative and more productive with limited resources; and

     WHEREAS, farmers and ranchers have a vested interest in seeing New Mexico's forests flourishing, and the federal farm bill provides tools to mitigate wildfires, manage public access and protect livestock; and

     WHEREAS, agriculture has played a critical role in increasing the availability of home-grown and renewable energy sources, making New Mexico a leader in energy development, and the federal farm bill will further advance the adoption of new technologies by farmers and ranchers; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is proud to be a significant specialty crop-producing state, made possible through the federal farm bill, which supports producers' efforts to enhance specialty crops through the specialty crop block grant program, as well as efforts to detect and eradicate invasive pests; and

     WHEREAS, farm service agency loan guarantees and financing programs, supported by the federal farm bill, make farming and value-added agricultural operations accessible to tribal members, beginners, minorities, women and urban producers, in addition to enabling farms and ranches to be transferred to the next generation;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico congressional delegation be strongly encouraged to protect New Mexico's interests, as they relate to the 2018 federal farm bill, to provide income stability for farmers and ranchers, to support next-generation farmers and ranchers, to protect land and natural resources, to open and ensure access to global markets, to empower rural and tribal communities and to help New Mexico families access nutritious foods; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to members of the New Mexico congressional delegation.

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