NM Food & Agriculture Policy Council
LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
Values Statement: A just, equitable, and sustainable food system is one that provides physical, economic and community health; regenerates, protects, and respects natural resources and animals; and ensures that all people live with dignity and freedom from oppression and exploitation.
Issue Statement: New Mexico’s food value chain is vulnerable with a disproportionate emphasis on exporting food outside of the state; insufficient food processing, storage and distribution systems; deficient systems to ensure the health of our vulnerable populations and natural resources; and inefficient plans to sustain and grow the agricultural economy of NM.
Briefing and Fact Sheets
NM Food & Agriculture Policy Council’s 2026 Legislative Priorities briefing sheet
HB101 and SB108 Regional Farm to Food Bank briefing sheet
SB46 Commissioning a Statewide Waste Characterization Study briefing sheet
HB114 Expand Double Up Food Bucks briefing sheet
Important links:
Upcoming Session Calendar – Find out what is happening in the House and Senate and when committee meetings are scheduled.
Bill
Purpose
Purpose: This funding request is to continue New Mexico’s highly successful Farm to Food Bank Program for New Mexico. Between FY23–FY25, The Food Depot purchased $4,640,000 in food from New Mexico farmers and ranchers at market rate. New Mexico must act now to sustain these vital investments in small and mid-scale agriculture,
hunger relief, and community health.
Legislative Sponsors: Representative Joanne Ferrary and Senator Liz Stefanics
Notes: This is a priority of the Office of the Governor, the NM Department of Agriculture and is in House Appropriations Committee FY27 Recommendations.
Regional Farm to Food Bank briefing sheet
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February 2, 2026 $2 million in HB2&3 (budget bill), as amended.
January 29, 2026 SB108 passed the Senate Conservation Committee.
January 27, 2026 HB101 passed the House Agriculture, Acequias And Water Resources Committee with amendments.
Approved Supplier Program
Request: $430,000 (request for recurring funds)
Purpose: The Approved Supplier Program is the state’s food quality assurance program essential to NM Grown procurement. It connects farmers, ranchers, and producers to institutions such as food banks, childcare centers, and senior centers. Benefiting more than 300 producers statewide, sales for FY26 are projected at $7.5 million, with continued growth expected in FY27 and beyond.
Increasing demands for New Mexico agricultural products have necessitated a larger investment in the New Mexico Grown Approved Supplier Program. The program helps assure fresh produce that moves through schools, early childhood facilities, and senior centers, is safe, traceable, and originates from a garden or farm using sound and current food safety practices.
Lead organization: NM Farmers’ Marketing Association
Notes: This is a priority of the Office of the Governor, NM Department of Agriculture (NMDA), and is in the Legislative Finance Committee’s FY27 Recommendations.
February 2, 2026 $430,000 in HB2&3 (budget bill), as amended.
New Mexico Grown Program for Seniors
Request: $1.5 million
Purpose: This funding would go towards the senior center meal program to purchase NM grown and raised food from farmers and ranchers and is a request for funds for the Aging & Long-Term Services (ALTSD) Kiki Saavedra Senior Dignity Fund, which supports programs that enhance the quality of life and independence of older adults.
February 2, 2026 $0.00 in HB2&3 (budget bill), as amended. We will work with the Senate Finance Committee to request adding funds to the Kiki Saavedra Fund.
Purpose: Supporting New Mexico’s ranchers and farmers; providing nutrition access and food security. As the federal landscape adds great uncertainty to existing nutrition access programs such as Double Up Food Bucks, this appropriation will ensure that lower income New Mexicans can continue to access fresh, nutritious food while supporting local agricultural producers. The statewide program will serve families who face food insecurity. By providing access to meat, nuts, eggs, produce, and other nutritious foods at farmers’ markets across the state. The program will be responsive to federal actions and will directly support the SNAP Double Up Food Bucks program as needed.
Legislative Sponsors: Representatives Rebecca Dow and Tara Lujan and Senator Wilson
Lead organization: NM Farmers’ Marketing Association
February 2, 2026 $0.00 in HB2&3 (budget bill), as amended. We will work with the Senate Finance Committee to request adding funds.
January 28, 2026 HB114 passed the House Health & Human Services Committee.
Healthy Universal School Meals
Request: (see notes)
Purpose: Now in its second full year, Healthy Universal School Meals is serving more students than ever, with 56,139,940 meals provided to children across New Mexico. Maintaining this success and to ensure every student has access to nutritious food.
Notes: The Office of the Governor recommends $42.2 million in recurring funding for FY27. Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) additionally recommends $5.1793 million contingent on a budgetary shortfall in FY27 due to growth in participation of meals rates.
February 2, 2026 $42.2 million and $5.1793 million in HB2&3 (budget bill), as amended.
Healthy Food Financing Fund
Request: $2 million
Purpose: This grant program serves as the cornerstone to a developing suite of financial tools and technical assistance for food and agricultural enterprises to grow, raise, process, aggregate, distribute, and sell local, fresh, healthy food through expanded retail and institutional in-state market channels in rural and underserved communities.
Agency budget: Economic Development Department (EDD)
Notes:This is a priority of the Office of the Governor, NM Economic Development Department (NMEDD), and is in the Legislative Finance Committee’s FY27 Recommendations.
February 2, 2026 $2 million in HB2&3 (budget bill), as amended.
WIC and Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs
Request: $1 million
Purpose: The focus of this program is to expand the distribution of food boxes with New Mexico grown into rural and underserved communities that do not have farmers’ markets.
Notes: This is a priority of the Department of Health.
February 2, 2026 $1 million in HB2&3 (budget bill), as amended.
Agriculture Water Resilience Program
Request: $10 million for FY2027 ($30 million over three years, initiated in 2025)
Purpose: This program provides grants to farmers for water-efficient projects. More than 40 farmers received grants for a wide variety of projects that will decrease water use on crops. NM State University Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI).
Notes: This is a priority of Office of the Governor.
February 2, 2026 $10 million in HB2&3 (budget bill), as amended.
Purpose: HB21 proposes to create the Land Grant-Merced and Acequia Infrastructure Project Funds. These would be funded through the allocation of 2.2 percent of the severance tax bond (STB) capacity to fund qualifying certified Land Grant-Merced and Acequia infrastructure projects. The funds would support investment in rural, historic communities in terms of infrastructure, disaster recovery, and rural economic development. Depending on this year, this could make available between $10-$20 million per year for qualifying projects. This bill also creates SB59 the Land Grant-Merced and Acequia Infrastructure Trust Fund, which will have no appropriations at this time.
Led by: the New Mexico Acequia Association
Legislative Sponsors: Representative Garcia and Senator Jaramillo
Administered by: the Acequia Bureau of the Interstate Stream Commission (ISC)
February 2, 2026 HB21 will be heard in the House Taxation & Revenue Committee.
January 27, 2026 HB21 passed House Rural Development, Land Grants And Cultural Affairs Committee the with amendments.
Purpose: Providing $130,000 of funding for a “boots on the ground” audit of New
Mexico’s municipal solid waste to learn how much organic waste (food
scraps and green waste (like yard trimmings, leaves, etc.) we have in the
solid waste stream, and to learn the overall composition of our trash.
Legislative Sponsor: Senator Pete Campos
January 27, 2026 SB46 passed the Senate Conservation Committee.
Purpose: Relating to regenerative waste management, introducing a state surcharge on solid waste disposal, creating a fund and establishing a working group to develop a grant program and other strategies to advance food recovery, organic waste reduction and composting throughout New Mexico.
Lead organization: NM Healthy Soil Working Group
Legislative Sponsor: Senator Pete Campos
Notes: This is a priority of the Office of the Governor.
January 29, 2026 SB47 was reported by the Senate Conservation Committee to fall within the purview of a 30 day session.
Update New Mexico’s Land Conservation Incentives Act for our
Land, Water, Economy & Culture
Purpose: The Land Conservation Incentives Act (LCIA) has not been updated since 2008. Problems that need to be addressed are:
- New Mexico’s land values have skyrocketed as development has transformed rural areas and threatened water supplies.
- The LCIA’s tax credits are capped at 50% of conservation value, and $250k total, which isn’t enough to incentivize protection of our most threatened landscapes.
- These caps are especially problematic for land rich/cash poor New Mexicans and those with senior water rights.
Solutions include:
- Updating the caps.
- Increasing the amount of conservation value for which landowners can be compensated to 80% will allow more small-scale landowners and farmers to keep New Mexico’s land heritage alive.
- Boosting the cap on each transaction to $2M will allow for more landscape-scale projects that protect watersheds & wildlife.
- This approach is modeled on that of Colorado’s conservation easement tax credit, which has been wildly successful in increasing the pace of conservation.