New Policies Passed by Voting Delegates One of the hallmarks of New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau is that we are a grassroots organization. As such, counties formulate resolutions which are then voted on by our delegates. Here are resolutions which were adopted by our voting delegates and are now part of our policy book: “We encourage the Department of Interior/Bureau of Land Management, the United States Forest Service, and the New Mexico State Land Commissioner to establish a Grazing Advisory Council to represent the Federal, State, County, and Local full-time ranchers of no less than 50%, to assist with all issues related to any Federal and/or State lands; in order to facilitate the promotion of better relationships, communications, and to have much needed input on natural resource management policies.” (Luna 2018) The NMF&LB supports conservation practices on our lands. Farmers and Ranchers are already the best stewards of our private, state and federal lands. NMF&LB does not believe a new conservation property tax valuation is needed to address the perceived problem. However, any new land classification for conservation should include: o Conservation rate should not have a special tax valuation less than 50% of the current non-residential rate and must be of no net loss to county; o Land must have been in agricultural production the five proceeding years to be eligible for program; o Land can be entered in the conservation schedule for no more than five years; Lands must return to at least 50% of agriculture production capacity; o Be capped at 160 acres to coincide with old homestead act; o Have conservation plans approved by soil and water conservation districts; Landowner should incur all costs associated with developing the plan. The New Mexico Legislature should also create the program or act (within Taxation and Revenue Department) that oversees this conservation program for the State. There should also be: o A statewide liaison to administer program and work with assessors and conservation districts to ensure compliance of conservation plans; o A program review each year by the legislature to ensure compliance. This program should sunset after 10 years unless reauthorized by the legislature. (Committee 2018) The International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) should be required to work on tributaries south of Caballo Lake to prevent future silt deposits and to remove silt annually from the Rio Grande in excess of annual silt deposits until the river channel south of Caballo Reservoir is returned to its engineered design elevations. (Doña Ana 2018) New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau will not endorse a political candidate without a two-thirds majority vote at the next regularly scheduled board meeting. (Eddy 2018) The right to repair one’s own equipment by amending the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to require agricultural equipment manufacturers to allow equipment owners and independent repair facilities to have access to the same agricultural equipment diagnostic and repair information made available to the manufacPage 12
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New Mexico Farm & Ranch
December / January 2019