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A MEMORIAL

RECOGNIZING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INDIGENOUS AGRICULTURAL

PRACTICE AND NATIVE SEEDS TO NEW MEXICO'S CULTURAL HERITAGE

AND FOOD SECURITY.

WHEREAS, the ability to grow food is the culmination of

countless generations of sowing and harvesting seeds, which

are an inheritance passed hand to hand from our ancestors to

us and to our children and grandchildren; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico's native foods and crops are the

result of the intermixing of Mesoamerican, pueblo, tribal and

Hispano cultures that created a unique and diverse indigenous

agricultural system and land-based culture; and

WHEREAS, traditional agricultural systems and native

seeds provide the basis for local food production in acequia,

pueblo and tribal communities, represent the foundation for

local food security and contribute to the health and well-

being of our communities; and

WHEREAS, in recent reports, New Mexico has been ranked

as having one of the highest rates of food insecurity in the

country, indicating that the ability to produce locally grown

food is in need of dramatic improvement; and

WHEREAS, strengthening local agriculture and indigenous

agricultural practices is a vital strategy for strengthening

food security at the local and state levels and also enables

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pueblo, tribal and acequia communities to produce food that is

culturally and spiritually meaningful; and

WHEREAS, traditional agriculture and seed-saving is part

of a culture characterized by communities and families coming

together for communal work such as cleaning acequias and

preparing fields as well as for ceremony, prayers and

blessings, thereby binding our communities, traditions and

cultures together; and

WHEREAS, traditional farmers from tribal, pueblo and

acequia communities have expressed concern about genetic

engineering and patenting of seeds as a threat to their

cultural and spiritual connection to the earth, as a violation

of their rights to save seeds and grow food and as a theft of

cultural property; and

WHEREAS, traditional farmers from pueblo and acequia

communities have come together for a ceremonial seed exchange

and a declaration of seed sovereignty between the traditional

Native American farmers association and the New Mexico acequia

association; and

WHEREAS, since the signing of that declaration,

resolutions in support of seed sovereignty have been passed by

the Pueblos of Tesuque and Pojoaque, the eight northern Indian

pueblos council, the all Indian pueblo council and the

national congress of American Indians; and

WHEREAS, the traditional Native American farmers'

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association and the New Mexico acequia association have formed

the New Mexico food and seed sovereignty alliance and are

seeking support for several objectives, including the

following:

A. protecting native seeds from genetic

contamination;

B. increasing the extent of the cultivation of

native seeds and the raising of small herds of livestock in

pueblos and acequia communities;

C. supporting the livelihood of traditional

farmers and ranchers with financial and educational resources,

leading to improved viability of farming; and

D. increasing the extent to which locally grown

food is served within the same community in which it is grown,

particularly by tribal, public and community institutions;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the house of

representatives recognize the significance of native seeds to

the cultural heritage and food security of New Mexico; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the house of representatives

support the efforts of the New Mexico food and seed

sovereignty alliance to prevent genetic contamination of

native seeds, strengthen small-scale agriculture and increase

the cultivation of native crops in their communities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico department of

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agriculture be requested to collaborate with the New Mexico

food and seed sovereignty alliance in supporting traditional

farmers in their communities, protecting native seeds and

increasing the cultivation of native seeds by developing

specific policy recommendations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

transmitted to the governor, the board of regents of New

Mexico state university and the dean of the college of

agriculture and home economics at New Mexico state university

and the secretary of Indian affairs.