IT’S A TIME OF CHANGE – JAIME CHÁVEZ

IT’S A TIME OF CHANGE – JAIME CHÁVEZ / 3

THE N.M. FOOD & AGRICULTURE POLICY COUNCIL CELEBRATES 20 YEARS

– HELGA GARCÍA-GARZA / 4 BUILDING THE POLICY PATH – PAM ROY / 4 WHAT’S ON YOUR PLATE? IS IT NEW MEXICO GROWN? – HELEN HENRY / 5 N.M. FOOD, HUNGER AND FARM STEERING COMMITTEE / 6 NEW MEXICO AND COMMUNITY FOOD PROJECTS – MARK WINNE / 7 2021 USDA FARM TO SCHOOL GRANTEES IN NEW MEXICO / 8

FOOD INSECURITY IN HOUSEHOLDS WITH SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN

IN THE CHAMA VALLEY – MARÍA VARELA / 8 LETTER TO IRRIGATORS – MIKE A. HAMMAN / 11

GROWING FOOD HUBS THROUGHOUT NEW MEXICO

– ERIN ORTIGOZA AND DAVID SUNDBERG / 12 MOGRO, NEW MEXICO HARVEST, TABLE TOP FOOD HUB / 13-15 PRACTICING GOOD AGRICULTURE IN NEW MEXICO – ERIN ORTIGOZA / 16

NEW MEXICO SUPPLY CHAIN HEROES – LISSA JOHNSON

AND NINA ROSENBERG / 18

LA SEMILLA FOOD CENTER, ANTHONY, N.M.

VISITING THE ESPAÑOLA FARMERS’ MARKET – SABRA MOORE / 19 HONORING THE LIFE OF GABRIEL ESTRADA – PAULA GARCÍA / 20

THE 2021 REGENERATE CONFERENCE: WEAVING WATER, LAND AND PEOPLE

– ARIELLE QUINTANA AND SAM HINKLE / 21

OP-ED: LAWRENCE GALLEGOS: FOOD DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS IN OUR STATE

NEED TO BE FIXED / 22

TIERRA AMARILLA RANCHER INVESTS IN COMMUNITY, LOCAL FOOD

AND FUTURE PRODUCERS – LEAH RICCI / 23

SOLIDIFYING THE INVISIBLE WASTE AS PART OF THE FOOD SYSTEM

– EVA STRICKLER / 26

NEW MEXICO HAS MUCH TO GAIN BY BUILDING SOIL HEALTH

– ISABELLE JENNICHES / 27

OP-ED: BEATA TSOSIE-PEÑA AND KAITLIN BRYON: BIOREMEDIATION

AS A COLLABORATIVE SOLUTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH / 29

IAIA THUNDERBIRDS WELCOME THEIR COUSINS, THE THUNDERBEES

– MELANIE KIRBY / 31 THE INDIGENOUS ART OF LIVING SUSTAINABLY – ALICE LOY / 33

BOOK PROFILES: A SMALL FARM FUTURE BY CHRIS SMAJE;

LANDRACE GARDENING BY JOSEPH LOFTHOUSE / 35 OP-ED: DANIEL W. SCHRECK – AMERICAN RECOVERY PLAN / 36

YOUTH BECOME STEWARDS OF THE LAND / FULL CIRCLE FARM

– CHRISTINA M. CASTRO / 36 NEWSBITES / 11, 15, 33, 37 WHAT’S GOING ON / 38

IT’S A TIME OF CHANGE

BY JAIME CHÁVEZ

In 1992, Thomas Banyacya delivered the Hopi message of peace to “the great House of Mica on the eastern shore, where nations come together to solve world problems without war.” Banyacya was one of four messengers selected by Hopi elders in 1948 to warn the world of doom if people didn’t choose to return to Masaw’s original instructions describing the “true path of life,” which depicted a figure at the beginning and the end with a planting stick and corn. These prophecies were made public after the nuclear destruction at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Today, as our environment is in collapse, New Mexico continues to be an energy colony dependent on oil, gas, coal and uranium. The pandemic, along with the climate crisis, has revealed inherent weaknesses within our social and natural systems, causing fear and social unrest as we continue to react to these conditions. Equity, social justice and basic democratic freedoms are at the very center of a new chapter of the civil rights movement.

In the Southwest, we have a beautiful Indigenous seed culture that is still our way of life. However, our food culture, food security and food sovereignty are under threat by chemical agriculture and genetically engineered (GE) crops. We need to protect and preserve them from the onslaught of corporate greed and bottom-line profit margins. We need to grow clean food from our ancient seeds, support small farmers and ranchers to build and revitalize our agricultural economy with regenerative agriculture to heal the soil.

To’ e’i’ iins’, Agua es Vida, Water is Life. Water is the lifeblood of our communities. We need to protect and bless her, the spirit of the water. We must preserve and protect our acequia culture! We must protect our children from the scourge of childhood hunger, with better nutrients so they can think well in the classroom.

Climate change, drought and the pandemic have forced us to think out of the box, to become visionary and prophetic if we want humankind to survive. We’re all in this together and we must act quickly and boldly. The contributions within this edition of Green Fire Times are from a regional network of agricultural practitioners, public policy advocates and food systems innovators. They call for a new paradigm that includes a redesign of our food economy, not business as usual! ¢

Blue corn, pinto beans, fava beans, chile and lavender from northern New Mexico

Jaime Chávez, from Atrisco, N.M., is on the governing board of the N.M. Food and Agriculture Policy Council. He also is National Field Organizer for the Rural Coalition and the National Latino Farmers and Ranchers Trade Association.