Santa Fe City and County Advisory Council on Food Policy

Santa Fe City and County, Advisory Council on Food Policy Thursday April 10, 2025 9:00AM-11PM In-Person: Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute:1607 Paseo De Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501 and on Zoom A. CALL TO ORDER​ 9:05am ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ B. ROLL CALL Nate Crail - Present Maria Sanchez-Tucker - Excused Eric Renz-Whitmore - Present David Sundberg - Present Susan Perry - Present Emigdio Ballon - Present Tejinder Ciano - Excused Said Assali - Present Jasmine Meyer - Present Peter Ives – Present Sergio Mata-Cisneros - Not excused We do have a quorem Staff Pam Roy Helen Henry Guests JoDee Powers Shana Woodworth - Cooking with Kids Coy Maienza E. Houghton - Sustainability Program, Santa Fe County Jacqueline Beam - Sustainability Manager, Santa Fe County C. APPROVAL OF AGENDA –April 10, 2025​ ​ ​ ​ Prioritization and Agenda Order​ David moved Peter seconded Approved with no changes ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ D. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES – February 13, 2025; March 13, 2025​ David moved to accept both sets of minutes Sue seconded February and March minutes accepted with corrections Corrections: Shana’s name is misspelled in both sets of notes - the correct spelling is “Shana.” ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ E. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE FLOOR​ None​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ F. INITIATIVES AND ACTIONS​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 1. Legislative Update - Legislative summary Hvtce Miller, Santa Fe County, Intergovernmental Outreach Coordinator Hvtce was not able to be with us. 2. 2025 Legislative session de-brief-Pam Roy, Sergio Mata-Cisneros and group Pam shared from the outcomes that are on the NM Food & Ag Policy Council website - (https://nmfoodpolicy.org/2025-legislative-outcomes/) and went over the process that we went through this year with the 60 day session. The Governor has signed the combined bill SB21 and SB22, which is an important water bill. This legislation will have a major impact on water in New Mexico. Given that New Mexico was recently listed as having the most endangered river levels in the country, this legislation takes urgent steps to address New Mexico’s ability to manage its surface water. Senate Bill 21 and 22 is landmark legislation that empowers New Mexico to take charge of its own water quality permitting, ensuring stronger protections for waterways and communities. The state now has a 50-year plan. We could ask for a presentation from the state engineer's office or the Interstate Stream Commission. Received funding $1 million for WIC and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program - the situation with funding for this program at the federal level still has not been resolved. David said that this is expected to resolve and some funds have been released to seniors but there were so many signups that they had to close registration. Veronica has been doing a great job with this program. Pam explained more about how these programs are compensating for access in areas that don’t have farmers’ markets. $430,000 for the NM Grown Approved Supplier Program - We will need to advocate for this money again next year. Shana said that Cooking with Kids has learned that school gardens can be part of this program - senior center gardens as well, if they go through the program which means that they can incorporate the produce that is grown in the garden in the cafeteria. $5 million for Ag Water Resilience Program - ($10M request) - a grant program to farmers who utilize water saving techniques. NMDA will be rolling this program out and it may have some changes. $2 million for the Healthy Food Financing Fund (HFFF) - Economic Development Department. They have a huge demand for this program. David: There is also the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), rebranded as New Mexico Food Pathways. The idea behind this is a five organization partnership to engage people in the middle of the supply of the value chain which is post-harvest through retail to get them financing (grants and low interest loans), essentially. Healthy Universal School Meals ●​ $7.848 million for the Healthy Universal School Meals for fiscal year 2025 shortfall, NM Public Education Department ●​ $3.054 million for the Healthy Universal School Meals prior year shortfall ●​ $5 million for the Healthy Universal School Meals ●​ There are three approaches to funding this program $500,000 for outdoor classrooms - Shana asked if this could support school gardens, Action: Pam suggested we follow up with Aaron Moore at the Public Education Department for further clarification. $3 million for Tribal and Local Health Councils - Health councils are in every county and many tribal communities and provide support at the local level. This level of funding will help stabilize resources for all of the health councils. $10 million for Food Assistance Programs - $10 million into emergency food assistance. 10 million per year. It is $30 million over three years. $1.2 million Acequia and Community Ditch Fund $9 million for soil and water conservation districts - this amount is separate from the Legacy fund. This helps to leverage federal funding. $3.3 Grants to Assist Meat Processing - This will help facilities to ramp up, with the goal of reaching the federal standard. $1.55 million Veterinary Loan Repayment Program - this is important to shore up the lack of veterinarians in NM. It will be an incentive for students to stay in the state after graduation. $1 million Early Childhood Education Department Scratch Cooking - Peter asked if this could tie in with Cooking with Kids. Shana said that they don’t work with early childhood centers at this point, but it is a question that Anna Farrier could address. Action: Pam suggested that we follow up with the Early Childhood Department $4.7 M Food is Medicine Program - Connected to the Medicaid Waiver Program which is in jeopardy at the federal level. Did not receive funding: $2.3 million New Mexico Grown for K-12 (NM Public Education Department will need to pull funding from unencumbered funds or other areas as deemed appropriate). Shana asked if this will delay the application process? Pam said it will not, same with the senior program. $1.5 Million for NM Grown for Senior Meal Programs (in the NM Aging and Long-Term Services Department’s Kiki Saavedra Fund) It may be that these funds can be pulled from other resources within the agencies’ budgets, but we don’t know. $4 million for basic needs funding for Higher Education Institutions (may have received some funding) Peter suggested that we reach out to legislators and thank them for this support and also start the process for others. Action: Peter offered to help coordinate a response. Bills that passed SM19 NM Meat, Cheese and Produce in Schools This is a memorial that sets the stage for the NM Department of Agriculture to put together a working group to develop recommendations to add locally produced and processed in New Mexico meats, dairy, and cheese to school meal programs. Some beef is already being incorporated into the NM Grown program. Action: Peter suggested that we ask NMDA if we can be part of this working group. Peter suggested that the NM Foundation might be helpful in facilitating this. (Peter is on the board of the NM Foundation.) The report for this working group will be presented to the Water and Natural Resources Committee, which we have a working relationship with. These bills did not pass, mostly due to lack of time. They passed their assigned committees and will hopefully come up again next year. HB459 Pollinator Research This bill received a strong and favorable hearing and has plenty of opportunity to be considered in the future. HB330 Land Grant-Merced & Acequia Infrastructure This bill would provide for the creation of a land grant-merced and acequia infrastructure trust fund (trust fund) and two related project funds, the land grant-merced infrastructure project fund and the acequia infrastructure project fund. LFC staff conclude that there is no revenue source for the trust fund, absent a separate appropriation into the trust fund of at least $5 million each. Helen asked if there will be a limited number of bills that will be allowed in the next session. Pam said that there was a bill that was introduced this session. Action: Pam will check to see if it was passed. Sometimes it is a real race to the finish to get things passed. 3. Federal Farm Bill and other Federal Updates-group round robin Action: Pam will send this information to the group in an email. Pam talked about Farm to Table’s experience with the federal funding freeze which is in a 90 period where funding is being reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Local Food Procurement Assistance program ( LFPA) funding has been discontinued. (more) Congress has introduced legislation to unfreeze farmer contracts. Congress is beginning to reintroduce Farm Bill funding and get funding back out into communities. Republicans want to see huge cuts in SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is 75% of the farm bill. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ G. PRESENTATIONS:​Composting and Healthy Soil Legislation: ​ Reunity-Tejinder Ciano; Jacqueline Beam, Sustainability Manager, Santa Fe County​ ​ Tejinder was not able to be with us.​ Jacqueline has been with the composting program for about three years. The program started in 2018 by resolution of the County Commissioners. They offer free composting systems and training for people in the county (county only, not city). People need to apply for the program. They are looking for people who are new to composting. They work with ReUnity Resources. They have streamlined the paperwork to make it easier for people to participate. They use social media, radio, flyers and have a website, but word of mouth has been very successful. They would like to encourage more commercial composting and with the school system. They would like to have 50 households each year, but haven’t met that goal yet. They want to be able to tell the stories, which includes the challenges. Peter asked if they would be doing any direct programs with residents of the city. Jacqueline said that there is a definite possibility of that happening with the nature-based climate solutions. Action: Jacqueline will send flyers about the program and also send her slides to Sue. ​ H. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS None ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ I. ITEMS FROM THE COUNCIL​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Member check-in ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ J. ITEMS FROM THE CHAIR​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 1. New interim Chair, Peter Ives ​ Peter has agreed to be the chair (no longer interim). 2. New member update​ We are waiting for confirmations for Shana and Coy.​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 3. Next Meeting: May 8, 2025: Vote for in-person only at Santa Fe Teen Center​ Sue moved that we meeting on May 8 at the Sandta Fe Teen (in-person only) David seconded Approved ​ 4.Topics for future presentations Suggestion for a presentation from the state engineer's office or the Interstate Stream Commission. L. ADJOURNMENT 10:55am These notes were taken contemporaneously and may contain errors and omissions. Signed by ___________________________ Helen Henry. I verify that these notes have been approved by a quorum of members of the Santa Fe Food Policy Council. Signed by Susan Perry, Co-chair or, Peter Ives, Co-chair _____________________________________________________