Santa Fe City and County Advisory Council on Food Policy

Santa Fe City and County, Advisory Council on Food Policy Thursday, July 10, 2025 9:00AM-11AM 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 via Tejinder Ciano - Not excused Said Assali - Present Jasmine Meyer - Excused Peter Ives – Present Coy Maienza - Excused Shana Woodworth - Present We have a quorum. Staff: Pam Roy Helen Henry Guests: Harrison Gibson Hvtce Miller, Intergovernmental Outreach Coordinator, Santa Fe County James Martinez, SF County Gina Aranda Michelle Stizza, NMSU Cooperative Extension Office ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ C. APPROVAL OF AGENDA –July 10, 2025 [ACTION]​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Prioritization and Agenda Order​ Said moved Sue seconded All approved ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ D. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES – May 8, 2025 [ACTION]; June 12 [ACTION]​ ​ Eric moved David seconded All approved ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ E. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE FLOOR​ Introductions from guests and new members.​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ F. INITIATIVES AND ACTIONS​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 1. Federal Farm Bill and other Federal Updates-group round robin 2. Discussion on potential response to funding gaps regarding food access. 2a. Updates from Food Access Programs in our state. Pam: Last week Congress passed the reconciliation bill that will have significant impact on things like SNAP and other areas across the food system. Funding cuts will create a domino effect across our food system, coupled with immigration impacts that will affect the ag workforce. Two recent articles in the SF New Mexican highlighted these issues - Betting the farm? New Mexico's aging producers prepare for the next generation and New Mexico farmers heavily rely on a federal visa program facing an overhaul. Agriculture is the third largest economic sector in NM, much of which is dairy and pecans that are exported, but we do have an extensive system for growing our own food here. There is a $430 million dollar implication to NM because of the federal funding cuts. Pam shared an infographic that Farm to Table has put together about the impacts of the federal funding cuts. https://farmtotablenm.org/implications-of-federal-funding-cuts/ Hvtce put in the timeline for SNAP funding cuts into the chat - https://www.perplexity.ai/search/what-is-the-timeline-for-snap-Fm5iRqyVT0GpJBNt8eHObw Hvtce also said that Native Americans are not included in some of the funding cuts. He also mentioned the error rate around cost sharing (around 14%). It is not realistic for the state to cover these and other shortfalls. USDA is cutting $148 million in programs that will affect NM, but we don’t know what this will look like. We are trying to get a list of these programs. FTT is in the process of hiring a consultant to do regular briefings on the effects of the federal funding cuts in NM. David asked for clarity and resources around what will happen around Double Up Food Bucks? People are coming to farmers’ markets and not knowing what will happen. Pam said that the NMFMA who runs the program has not received notification yet that they can submit for Double Up Food Bucks (which they were supposed to be able to do in April). We are staying on top of this. David noted that clear communication to the public will be crucial. David asked if the consultant could help out with FNS applications to accept SNAP benefits for different associations and retail businesses? Action: Pam will find out if she knows anyone who can do that. David said that the food banks are helping people fill out the paperwork for SNAP benefits, however the food needs to be nutritious and that is not always the case with food that is available. Action: Pam will follow up with Jennifer at the County. We need to identify who the advocates are who can help people navigate this changing landscape. Peter noted that one of our roles as a Council should be to understand the timelines for the cuts to better help people navigate these changes and to try and fill in the gaps in food assistance services. Possible action: Peter would like the city to do a convening of food assistance/governmental organizations that can address this issue so we can see where the gaps are and where the resources are so that we can help people maintain continuity. (suggestion for October) We need to understand the landscape that is evolving so we can find solutions. Action: Peter is still working to get Sen Trujillo if she can participate in one of our meetings. She is on the state’s federal stabilization committee. Pam is still working to understand the reconciliation bill and is working with other national organizations to figure things out. Hvtce said that the timelines for all of the changes are important to understand. He put a resource in the chat https://www.perplexity.ai/search/what-is-the-timeline-for-snap-Fm5iRqyVT0GpJBNt8eHObw Peter: The effects of funding cuts are being felt immediately with organizations such as Planned Parenthood. Action: Put item on the next agenda: Critical timeline of the impacts of federal food funding cuts on the state. There will be a virtual meeting of the NM Food & Agriculture Policy Council on Monday, July 28 from 9am-12pm 3. Updates to the Food Plan Action: Peter asked for everyone to look at the food plan and suggest updates. The idea is to make this as easy as possible; we could do this via email. Let’s try to have this done by the end of August. Helen will put together a mechanism so that people can give feedback. Said volunteered to help with revisions. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ G. PRESENTATIONS: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 1. County Transfer Development Rights-Update​ ​ Peter: The County has had a transfer of development rights program plan in place since about 2019 that basically involves not just on ag lands, but also housing, affordable housing, density issues, etc. They take the development rights that are associated with a particular parcel of property, strip them off that property, put a conservation easement on that, or dedicate it through some restrictive covenants to particular beneficial purposes, such as ag use and/or a higher density for affordable housing and allow the transfer of that density package to other property. The county has a bank where they store these transferred rights and make them available for purchase to developers and there have been a number of transactions over time that have utilized the program. Pam and Sue, Nate and Peter met with Commissioner Bustamonte who was very interested in focusing the program toward ag lands. They had a good meeting with her (Hvtce was also present.) The first sort of step is identifying what those agricultural lands. They discussed a number of mechanisms to try and do that, not where the county assessor may have an ag exemption but properties that are listed, presumably, for either crop production or cattle or other livestock. Also looking at potentially some GIS applications and evaluating the utilization of land for farming purposes. The idea would be to try and elevate, even potentially, some changes to existing land use codes and the protection of agricultural lands, towards the end of having greater sustainability within the community, which plays into in a longer-term perspective around ocal food production, Nate: On the county planning side - they are developing a map throughout the county, and particularly traditionally irrigated lands, so once they have that, as a Food Policy Council, we can draft a resolution, or we can figure out which exactly the type of document we want so that the county can prioritize those types of lands in the TDR program and make decisions in the TDR program, and back it up with funding to even possibly, purchase development rights for those types of lands. Pam: Also need to understand the water rights to these lands because transfers often affect the water rights. Nate agreed that this is important and that they can do this. ​ Hvtce: Action: Need to get a timeline form the County planning department about when the inventory will be available. He will follow up with Commissioner Bustamonte about getting this. ​ H. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS Website re-build and transfer-Discussion on status and request for input.​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Farm to Table has transitioned all of its websites (including the SFFPC website) to a new host, which will allow for greater flexibility and ease of management. The SFFPC website needs to be updated with a new theme and content management system. Action: Pam, Sue and Peter will help Helen choose a new theme. Peter suggested asking the city for funding for the updates. Action: Helen asked everyone to send her their bio and a headshot by the August meeting to post on the website. She will send an email reminder. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ I. ITEMS FROM THE COUNCIL​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 5 minutes Member check-in Possible Action: Peter mentioned that it would be good to map available commercial kitchen space. Shana said that PED has asked them to remove fruit trees and fruiting plants from a water catchment system at the Kearney and Chaparral School Gardens. There is currently not a food safety plan in place that could assess this situation. Action: She asked if the Council knows anything about or could look at this issue? Peter: The Office of Sustainability might be able to weigh in on this issue. Shana will do more research and see if Lucy from the OS can give some input. Pam: This might dovetail with the Urban Ag Ordinance that we are looking at. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ J. ITEMS FROM THE CHAIR​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 1. SFFPC progress Reports to City Council and County BCC​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 2. New member update​ Hvtce and Pam confirmed that Coy Maienza and Shana Woodworth have now been appointed to the Council.​ We will need a resignation letter from Segio Mata-Cisneros since he has left The Food Depot. Peter will reach out to Tejinder re: Attendance.​ 3. Next Meeting: August 14, 2025: Hybrid [Action]​ Said moved Nate seconded All approved 3.Topics for future presentations David suggested that we do an- in-person meeting at the County Extension office. Michelle said this is available for the October 9 meeting. Action - Sue: Put this on the next agenda for a vote. K. ADJOURNMENT 10:39am 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 _____________________________________________________