Earth Day Project in Albuquerque’s International District

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Twenty volunteers from Hope Evangelical Church and assorted community members cleared trash, planted trees, and spread mulch in Albuquerque’s International District on April 20. East Central Ministries has bought five lots at Chama and Domingo NE with plans to build low cost housing through a community land trust. The baby chokecherry and hackberry trees were Interplanted into existing stands of hardy elms to give them some shade and windbreak.

(Thank you to Donna Detweiler for supplying text and photos)

Urge Sen. Ben Ray Lujan to Support Independent Farmers

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More than 50 people registered for our event, Our Sacred Lands: Food, Farming, and Fairness, held on Wednesday, March 6, at First Congregational Church in Albuquerque. A number of those in attendance participated viertually via Zoom.  Our panel examined the challenges facing independent farmers, from mental health to systemic challenges, including the misuse of a federal assistance program (which favors corporate entities).<

Our in-state panelists included Alan Brauer  (Indigenous Farm Hub), Desiree Woodland (Suicide Prevention Group), and Cash Carruth (a farmer from Bloomfield, NM, who joined us briefly on Zoom). Pam Roy from Farm to Table New Mexico moderated.

Our special invitee was Sarah Carden from Farm Action Fund, who flew in from western New York to talk about  the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act.

Background: America’s farmers and ranchers are being forced to pay into government checkoff programs, only to see those dollars used against them by lobbying organizations representing the world’s largest meatpackers and grain traders.  These organizations pick the winners and losers of our food system – promoting industrial farming policies at the expense of every other farmer.  Read more from Farm Action Fund

The OFF act seeks to add transparency  and accountability to the manner in which check-off funds (money collected from all farmers to promote agricultureal products). There is evidence that the expenditures of the fund tends to favor the large corporate farming organizations. Sometimes the money is spent in a corrupt manner for unauthorized purposes.<

Contact Sen. Lujan

The reform of the OFF Act will be addressed in the Farm Bill discussions in the Senate and House Agriculture Committees in the coming weeks. One committee member who represents a critical vote in the upper chamber is Sen. Ben Ray Lujan.  Therefore, we are urged to contact Sen. Lujan’s office in D.C. at 202.224.6621 and ask him to support the OFF Act. You can e-mail Sen. Lujan’s office in Washington as well.  Use this link

Message: Urge Sen. Lujan to support the OFF Act

Public News Service Highlights Our Event

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Today the New Mexico News Connection ran the story New Mexico panelists tackle food, farming and fairness. The coverage is related to our event Our Sacred Lands: Food, Farming, and Fairness, scheduled on Wednesday evening, March 6, at 6:00 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2801 Lomas Blvd SE The event offers the option of in-person attendance or virtual attendamce.

New Mexico News Connection is a part of Public News Service, an independent network of state-based news services. Our goal is threefold: to support an informed and engaged public, fund independent journalism, and tell the stories of people doing public interest work in communities across the country. You can also check out our social media listed below.