NM Special Session: Urge Legislators to Preserve Critical Funding

Here is the text of a message that New Mexico First sent out for the special session.  The requests are based on priorities identified by the Food, Hunger, Water, and Agricultural Policy Workgroup and New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council.  

Our volunteer legislators and committed public servants at the Legislative Finance Committee have been presented with tough decisions during very trying times. We sincerely appreciate and respect their service on behalf of New Mexico. Before the session, a coalition of coalitions and multi-stakeholder groups worked together to identify policy and funding priorities in light of the pandemic.

The Food, Hunger, Water, and Agricultural Policy Workgroup and New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council and members of our coalition/council have affirmed the need to support the following priorities.  Please act now and contact your legislators and encourage policymakers to consider alternatives to the Legislative Finance Committee's recommendation to cut these critical programs.

Investing in Healthy Food Systems
We are also concerned about recommended cuts in funding to some of the critical infrastructure that bolsters agriculture in New Mexico through programs like the NM Cooperative Extension Services and Agricultural Experimentation Stations.

At a time when national supply chain issues have impacted access to food, investing in healthy local food systems is critical and while a 4% cut is less than some other proposed cut, short-sighted at a time when agriculture needs more support than ever as a critical part of our economy and as a social determinant of public health. Similarly, the proposed cuts to the NM Department of Agriculture can affect support for farmers' markets and promotion programs, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and the healthy soil program. Cuts to these programs can impact the ability to leverage federal and philanthropic investments, risking significant progress that has been achieved to build local markets and sustain our natural resources to support food production.

School Meals
LFC's recommendation to step back from the Elimination of Co-pays for School Breakfast and Lunch with a less significant investment than the $650K appropriated during the regular session is profoundly concerning. With childhood hunger increasing, this recommendation is counter to our shared commitments to address child hunger.

NM Grown Fruits and Vegetables for School Meals: Legislature Appropriations: $400K: LFC recommended a decrease to $204K (bottom of p. 19), which is a big cut. We know that the NM Public Education Department has commitments to 58 School Food Authorities for the $400K (if it can be maintained) to start purchasing NM grown fruits and vegetables for school meals over the coming months. NM PED received more than $750K in requests. As we know, this is an economic driver for farmers who have already planted their fields in preparation to sell to schools and senior centers. School districts are shifting the ways they prepare and provide school meals, yet they are still planning to buy local produce to incorporate into meal programs.

Meals for Seniors
We are very excited about the Kiki Saavedra Senior Dignity Fund that the Legislature appropriated $7.3M. We see that the LFC has recommended a $1M decrease. We hope this program will be maintained even if there is a cut. As a state with one of the fastest-growing senior populations, and we are seeing so many more needs for seniors through the lens of COVID-19, we look forward to the Kiki Saavedra Program being of benefit to many. We believe this is the right type of funding to help build the NM Grown Fruits and Vegetables for Senior Meal Programs. We just finalized a three-county (Sandoval, Socorro, and San Juan) pilot project with the Aging and Long Term Services Department, senior centers, and farmers. Even amid COVID-19, 15 senior centers served 6,160 meals weekly (curbside and home-delivered), incorporating $50,000 of New Mexico grown produce in the meals. A small request of the Kiki Fund could really benefit the growth of this program across the state!