Policy Priorities Shape Food and Farm Act of 2021

The policy priorities contained in the fact sheet at the bottom of this post helped shape the omnibus Food and Farm Act, cosponsored by Rep. Melanie Stansbury, Rep. Joane Ferrary and Sen. Liz Stefanics. HB207 was introduced on January 28 in the New Mexico State Legislature. The measure was sent to the House Agriculture and Water Resources Committee. (Track Progress of HB207)

Advocates gather with Rep. Stansbury, 2020 session

This list of priorities was developed after months of consultations among hundreds of organizations, non-profits, agencies on the many actions needed to help address hunger in New Mexico. Rep. Stansbury filed an earlier version of this initiative as a memorial in the 2020 legislature. While a memorial does not have the weight of law, this was the first time that our priorities came together in single format. 

Rep. Stansbury's memorial was one of many hunger-related initiatives presented in the last three years. There were other initiatives moving us in the direction of a comprehensive and long-term effort to address hunger in New Mexico, including memorials in 2018 and 2019 promoting the creation of a hunger council and legislative hunger caucus, which were projects of the Interfaith Hunger Coalition. The informal legislative hunger caucus came into existence in 2020.

Making the case
Reps. Stansbury and Ferrary (along with Rep. Anthony Allison) made their case about a comprehensive measure to address hunger in our state in an opinion piece published in several newspapers in October 2020. "There is nothing more basic to life than food and water. And, yet, here in New Mexico we have among the highest rates of hunger in the country and communities that are without access to water. It is hard to imagine in the 21st century that food and water insecurity continue to have such a profound impact on our state. That is why we must take decisive action during the upcoming Legislative session to address the food and water needs of our communities," the piece noted.

The impact of the pandemic
The conversations began in the summer of 2019 and continued into the 2020 regular session of the State Legislature. During the rest of 2020 and into 2021, discussions were shaped by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased the needs in rural and Native communities and among low-income people in New Mexico. “Families continue to reel from the impact this pandemic created — devastating their income and finances. New Mexico families are struggling to afford all their family needs including food,” Mag Strittmatter, president and CEO of Roadrunner Food Bank said in July 2020. 

The impact of the pandemic was felt throughout the state, prompting creative and generous responses from faith communities and local organizations in all corners of the state. The Interfaith Hunger Coalition's World Food Day video offers some examples.

The pandemic also worsened already-high hunger rates among children in New Mexico. A chart from Roadrunner Food Bank showed the projected increase of child hunger between 2018 and 2020. Federal assistance helped mitigate the problem to a certain extent.

Online interaction
The Zoom platform was both a blessing and a curse. Our sense of a community working on a common purpose was enhanced by our interactions in the board room at Roadrunner Food Bank. However, these  face-to-face discussions involved primarily folks from Albuquerque and Santa Fe and occasionally a few participants from Las Cruces. The online meetings have brought many others from around the state directly into the discussions. The voices from folks in Shiprock, Gallup, Las Vegas, Roswell, Silver City and many other communities became heard in the crafting of the initiative.

Even though we have arrived at a point where we were able to piece a legislative initiative (with strong support from Rep. Stansbury), we realize that our work is just beginning. After all, New Mexico remains at the top of the list nationally in terms of food insecurity and child hunger.

 

Here is a very partial list of organizations, coalitions, non-profits and others who participated in the discussions/deliberations that led to HB207.