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A JOINT 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 LEGISLATURE OF THE
STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the legislature recognize the
significance of native seeds to the cultural heritage and
food security of New Mexico; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislature 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
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the
New Mexico state
university college of 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.