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Feral Hogs: An Economic Nightmare for New Mexico?

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
ROSWELL, N.M. - The New Mexico Agriculture Department wants to expand its ongoing battle against feral hogs. The list of plants and animals they threaten directly and indirectly is long. It includes deer, reptiles, rabbits and the food sources of eagles and coyotes.

Alan May, the state director for USDA Wildlife Services, calls the hogs an "environmental and economic disaster." He has no kind words about them.

"They prey on native wildlife. They prey on young livestock. They compete with native wildlife for limited food resources. They transmit diseases to both livestock and wildlife."

Feral hogs also damage crops and property, May says, and contaminate water supplies. He wants to eliminate the animals from New Mexico, and he says land management and wildlife agencies support the idea. The challenge is coming up with the funding, he adds.

Although May has not yet determined how much money would be needed to eradicate the hogs, he knows where he wants to start.

"Right now, the population farthest west that we have is along the Middle Rio Grande Valley. We really want to stop those pigs first. We don't want pigs to spread to points west from there."

It's believed the hogs were brought in from nearby states by people who released them on private property to hunt, for sport. New Mexico now has laws against such paid hunts, as well as laws prohibiting transporting or releasing feral swine in the state.

Every year, May says, feral hogs cause more than $1 billion in damages nationwide, so it's important to do more, and act quickly.

The New Mexico Livestock Board has posted information about feral swine problems at www.nmlbonline.com.

Beth Blakeman reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

New Mexicans Protest Genetically-Engineered Corn

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The New Mexico arm of Food and Water Watch is actively involved with an effort to stop the nation's top ten grocery retailers and food processors from selling genetically-modified sweet corn, grown from seeds developed by Monsanto. 

Eleanor Bravo, New Mexico state organizer for the nonprofit food and water safety advocacy group, says most people have already eaten canned or frozen GM food (also called GE, for genetically-engineered) without knowing it, but this is the first time it would be sold fresh in supermarkets. 

Bravo says the campaign is focused most intensely on Walmart, and believes it would significantly affect the food supply for New Mexicans.

"New Mexico relies heavily on Walmart stores because we don't have any more local grocery store chains."

Food and Water Watch is organizing protests and petition drives to encourage Walmart to reject using crops grown from the modified corn seed. On its website, Monsanto says "The FDA has found there is no basis for concluding that bioengineered foods present any different or greater safety concern than foods developed by traditional plant breeding."

The genetically-engineered corn seed was quickly given the go-ahead by the Food and Drug Administration and the USDA. The same traits now in the biotech corn had received previous approvals in 2005 and 2008, although Bravo says that's not good enough.

"We're still uncertain. These three traits have never been approved together, and this food is going to be consumed directly by people."

According to Bravo, Food and Water Watch has already learned that General Mills, Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods do not intend to sell or use the GE corn in their products. 

Other coalition members asking retailers and food processors to refuse to sell the biotech corn include Center for Environmental Health, Center for Food Safety, CREDO, Action and Food Democracy Now!

More information is available at www.foodandwaterwatch.org . 
Monsanto's information on its GM products is at www.monsanto.com .
Beth Blakeman reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

When Is A Bank Not A Bank? The USDA - Making A Real Difference in New Mexico

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The Rural Development Agency, under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, offers many of the services Americans used to count on from their banks, with one large proviso: These services are available only in rural areas.

Terry Brunner, the USDA's New Mexico director for rural development, oversees about 45 programs which do everything from providing loans for small and emerging private businesses to assisting in development of advanced biofuels. At one time, his agency helped bring electricity to rural farms and ranches across the nation.

Brunner says its mission has grown.

"We also have some programs where we give money to nonprofits and public bodies that are re-lenders or micro-lenders. So, they use our money to re-lend it out in the community. So we are doing, in some ways, what banks do."

Brunner says the agency's loans, grants and services are part of an effort to facilitate rural community and economic development. The Rural Development Agency still helps with utility concerns in rural areas, he says, but it also has a vibrant housing program.

"We're one of the largest housing financial institutions in the U.S., and we provide hundreds of home loans and loan guarantees for banks, for people around New Mexico. We also have community facilities program, where we help finance the building of community centers and courthouses and hospitals and clinics."

The agency also offers loan guarantees for businesses, he says, including those which want to increase energy efficiency.

Today, "rural development" can mean anything from small farms and farmers' markets to broadband access. For the latter, Brunner says, his agency has yet to cover the entire state, but is working diligently to link producers to consumers.

"We do a lot of broadband work. We've spent about $150 million in the last couple years in broadband in New Mexico. We've got projects all around the state - First, Middle and Last Mile projects. A lot of those are stimulus projects out to cooperatives and member-owned phone companies in these rural areas."

Since the start of the current administration, Brunner says, the Rural Development Agency has spent about $1 billion in loans, loan guarantees and grants around New Mexico.

Beth Blakeman reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

Poverty In New Mexico: Statistics That Fail To Enchant

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
SANTA FE, N.M. - The numbers are in, and the Land of Enchantment holds down fourth place for the highest percentage of people living in poverty for the past 12 months in the United States. Only the state of Mississippi, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico rank lower.

The CEO and president of the organization Prosperity Works, Ona Porter, says the issues around poverty are those of economic justice. The idea that someone works full-time and still lives in poverty should not be tolerated in the richest nation in the world.

"We need to do lots of work in our state, starting at the very beginning about what's happening in terms of support for families, for their parenting, early childhood education, affordable child care and also affordable health care for New Mexicans."

Poverty status is determined by comparing annual income with a set of dollar values that vary by family size. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the change in the poverty rate for New Mexico increased 2.5 percent in 2009-2010.

Prosperity Works is allied with The Center for American Progress, which is engaged in the "Half in Ten" campaign, an effort to cut the poverty rate in the country by 50 percent in ten years. But Porter says New Mexico has a long way to go because it's one of the worst-performing states in terms of measurements of poverty.

"What does that mean? It means the quality of jobs that we have in New Mexico is really poor. It means that people are having to work two and three jobs and still not being able to live a decent life above the poverty level."

Desmond Brown, consultant with the "Half in Ten" campaign, says that, out of 13 poverty indicators, New Mexico performs better than the rest of the nation only in available affordable housing and in the number of children in foster care.

WORLD FOOD DAY: In New Mexico Kids Suffered Food Hardship in 2010

The Food Research and Action Center released a report Thursday on rates of food hardship over the year 2010, finding that 28.3 percent of New Mexico families with children had trouble getting food on the table in the past year.

The report took polling data from Gallup. Gallup asks: “Have there been times in the past twelve months when you did not have enough money to buy food that your or your family needed?” A yes answer means food hardship.

New Mexico had the 12th-highest rate of food hardship in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, with 28.3 percent of families with children and  16.5 percent of families without children experiencing food hardship.

The Albuquerque metro area had the 18th-highest rate with virtually identical rates of 28.2 percent of families with children and 15.8 percent of families without children experiencing food hardship.

The question asked didn’t address issues like the duration or frequency of food hardship. Regardless, the numbers are high. For additional information visit the New Mexico Center for Law and Poverty’s page on food stamp benefits in New Mexico  http://nmpovertylaw.org/WP-nmclp/wordpress/?page_id=49. Gov. Martinez has also announced she will ask the legislature to reauthorize additional state food aid that supplements the federal SNAP benefit.

View the report here: http://frac.org/pdf/aug2011_food_hardship_report_children.pdf
as reported by Luke Johnson in the New Mexico Independent -- 08-11-2011

Report: "Take Cover" when Farming

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
SANTA FE, N. M. - Farming is vital to New Mexico's economy, and a new report takes a look at agriculture production trends around the country - focusing on natural methods to keep soil healthy and productive. Growing cover crops in the off-season and using more organic production methods are two recommendations.

The report suggests ways to help farmers save money, boost production and help the environment. Report coauthor Eliav Bitan, agriculture adviser for the National Wildlife Federation, says cover crops minimize soil erosion, provide food for many game bird species, and reduce fertilizer use in the next crop year.

"It'll soak up any of those extra nutrients, it'll die, and it'll return those nutrients to the soil so the farmer can use those nutrients next year."

The report makes seven recommendations for agricultural production, including the use on on-farm anaerobic digesters to treat animal waste, and reduced tilling.

Bitan says organic produce is still gaining in popularity with consumers, and points out that organic farming practices are becoming more profitable for farmers.

"A farmer can benefit on the bottom line by reducing their fertilizer costs or their herbicide costs, the same time as wildlife can benefit, the same time as the water quality can benefit."

The report, "Future Friendly Farming: Seven Agricultural Practices to Sustain People and the Environment," says organic farming practices also require 60 percent less energy use compared to traditional farming methods. Read it online at http://tinyurl.com/3o9lyxt.

Richard Alan reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

A Hungry Mob Can Be An Angry Mob

Albuquerque, NM. - According to the Dreaming New Mexico group New Mexico is third in the nation in “food insecurity” and fifth in hunger. Over 300,000 New Mexicans experience food insecurity and/or hunger, but the rising cost of food could increase those numbers for many New Mexicans as well as spurring unrest around the world.

A new report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says world food prices have reached an historic peak, and instability is being fueled by poor people in developing countries where up to 80 percent of their income is spent on food. Eric Munoz, senior policy adviser for the hunger-fighting group Oxfam America, says hunger breeds political instability and turmoil, "It's not a problem to go into a market here in the United States and find shelves full of food. I think in some other countries the price of food going up means the markets are bare."

Munoz says Oxfam is calling for the Committee on Food Security, the global body responsible for tackling hunger, to establish a task force of government ministers from rich and poor countries to develop an emergency response plan by June. He says high food prices and persistent hunger create the perfect breeding ground for unrest that is driving people to the streets, "And you end up with bare cupboards and bare markets, and people are not going to stand for that."

New FAO figures for January 2011 show that world food prices are at their highest level since the organization started measuring them in 1990.
Suzanne Prescott reporting, suz.prescott@gmail.com

Organic 'Seed Money' Dries Up Soon

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
New Mexico organic farmers, and those who want to be, have a few more weeks to apply for federal help to get them through the long transition process. The cut-off date for the Organic Initiative, part of the federal Environmental Quality Incentives Program, is March 4th.

Organic 'seed money' of up to 20-thousand dollars is available for New Mexico organic producers and farmers who are making the switch.  Applications for the money are due March 4th. It's part of the 2008 farm bill. Tracey Bruckner is with the Center for Rural Affairs. She says the Organic Initiative makes all the difference to farmers making the changeover,  "You need assistance in designing a conservation-based system that works for an organic operation, and just making that work financially, as well as also finding the technical assistance you need to help you put into place the things that are needed, so it’s definitely an important part of the puzzle."

She says applicants will need to submit a self-certification form to the US Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service acknowledging they agree to develop and implement conservation practices, "You have to fill out the basic application form by March 4th and then you also need to be in contact with a organic transition specialist."

In fiscal year 2010, the NRCS obligated nearly $24 million through the Organic Initiative to help producers implement conservation practices like planting cover crops, establishing pest management plans or implementing nutrient management systems. For assistance making an application contact the Center for Rural Affairs at 402-687-2100 or visit their website at http://www.cfra.org/.

Editor's Note: A guide for farmers and ranchers is available from the Center at http://files.cfra.org/pdf/guide-organic-conservation.pdf

Eric Mack reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

USDA: Nearly a Quarter of NM Farmers Women

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
Albuquerque – The face of agriculture is changing, as more and more women get involved in starting new agricultural businesses, developing new business models, and adopting new ideas in production and distribution. The USDA says while the number of farms is declining, the number owned and operated by women is on the rise. Lisa Kivirist, director of the Rural Women’s Project for MOSES (Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service), says the opportunities for women have never been better.

USDA numbers show more women in the driver's seat in New Mexico ... of a tractor. Farms owned and operated by women are up in the past few years, including nearly a quarter of farms in the Land of Enchantment. Lisa Kivirist with the Rural Women's Project says one reason might be that women are championing locally-grown food and specialty foods, which tap into market trends, "We see this movement of wanting to reconnect with the way things used to be, when you could buy your eggs from your neighbor down the road - and how can we rekindle that in today’s world, is the challenge ahead of us."

Women are the principal operators of about 4,600 farms in New Mexico, and Albuquerque-based non-profit Holistic Management is considered a leader in training first-time women farmers around the country. And Kivirist predicts that the number of farm businesses and other agricultural ventures owned by women will continue to grow and play a role in the future of the food system, "You’re going to see more women intentionally starting these types of businesses that really have the potential to transform how we eat, and what food we’ll end up in anything from our kids’ cafeteria trays to our home dinner plate."

Find more agriculture statistics at http://www.agcensus.usda.gov .
Eric Mack reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org

Report Alleges Pay to Play at Game Commission

from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
Santa Fe - A report from the New Mexico Wildlife Federation details an alleged pattern of "pay-to-play" at the state's Game Commission and Department of Game and Fish, and the report includes recommendations to the incoming Governor. The report shows an alleged pattern of deference to special interests and lack of transparency and Federation spokesperson Joel Gay says,  "The commission in the past has done things like propose a rule change the night before a game commission meeting and then vote on it."

The report alleges ongoing problems that stem from commissioners being appointed as a reward for contributing to gubernatorial election campaigns. Commission members and Governor Richardson have denied any connection between appointments and campaign contributions.  Gay says the influence of special interests on the Commission and the Department of Game and Fish leads to sportsmen getting short shrift. He points to decisions regarding antelope licenses for hunters, "The commission has steadfastly refused to make more licenses available to the everyday hunters in New Mexico, and we believe that that's a reflection of these special interests that they have."

The Wildlife Federation report also provides recommendations to Governor-Elect Susana Martinez to appoint commissioners that are more representative of New Mexicans, and that she conduct an open, transparent search to bring new leadership to the Department of Game and Fish.
There are more details from the report at www.nmwildlife.org  .

Eric Mack reporting, nmnc@newsservice.org