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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Lujan, B.

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

3/08/07

3/15/07 HB HM 84/aHFL#1/aHFL#2

SHORT TITLE Indigenous Agriculture & Native Seeds

SB

ANALYST Guambaña

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

SUMMARY

Synopsis of House Floor Amendment #2

This amendment eliminates the memorial’s content surrounding the issue of genetically

engineered crops and shifts the focus primarily to the practice of traditional agricultural systems

in New Mexico.

Synopsis of House Floor Amendment #1

This amendment requests that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, to the

Board of Regents of New Mexico State University, to the Dean of the College of Agriculture and

Home Economics at New Mexico State University, and to the Secretary of Indian Affairs.

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Memorial 84 requests the recognition of the significance of indigenous agricultural

practice and native seeds to New Mexico’s heritage and food security.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

House Memorial 84 states:

•

The ability to grow food is the culmination of countless generations of sowing and

harvesting seeds, which are an inheritance passed through generations;

House Memorial 84/aHFL#1/aHFL#2 – Page

2

•

New Mexico's native foods and crops are the result of the intermixing of Mesoamerican,

pueblo, tribal and Hispano cultures that created an indigenous agricultural system and

land-based culture;

•

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 New Mexico’s communities;

•

Strengthening local agriculture and indigenous agricultural practices is a vital strategy for

strengthening food security at the local and state levels;

•

Traditional agriculture and seed-saving is part of a culture characterized by communities

and families coming together for communal work that binds communities and cultures;

•

The relationship that exists between corporations that produce genetically engineered

crops and individual farmers has produced considerable concerns within the faming

community;

•

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

•

Since the signing of that declaration, resolutions in support of seed sovereignty have been

passed by the Pueblos of Tesuque and Pojoaque, all Indian Pueblo Councils and the

National Congress of American Indians.

•

This memorial requests the support of the House of Representatives for the following

objectives as established by the New Mexico Food and Seed Sovereignty Alliance:

o

protecting native seeds from genetic contamination;

o

increasing the extent of the cultivation of native seeds and the raising of small

herds of livestock in pueblos and acequia communities;

o

supporting the livelihood of traditional farmers and ranchers with financial and

educational resources, leading to improved viability of farming; and

o

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.

•

This memorial additionally asks that the Department 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.

•

Also, copies of this memorial are requested to be transmitted to the governor, the Director

of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture and the Secretary of Indian Affairs.

AG/nt:csd