New Mexico lawmakers suggest expanding farm programs statewide to help address at-risk youth

New Mexico lawmakers meeting in Las Cruces Tuesday morning said they’d like to replicate an agricultural program that offers jobs to at-risk youth to the communities that need it most across the state.

Representatives from the Anthony Youth Farm addressed state lawmakers on the interim Economic and Rural Development and Policy Committee about how they serve southern New Mexico’s children.

Leaders at the 25-acre farm train 20 to 25 young farmers annually and harvest more than 500 pounds of vegetables per week, they said. Those veggies fed nearly 38,000 students in the Las Cruces Public Schools and Gadsden Independent School District.

The presentation came as state leaders continue evaluating solutions to a statewide problem. About 32,000 New Mexicans between the ages of 16 and 24 neither work nor go to school, according to an April Legislative Finance Committee report. The report found that more than half of the state’s “disconnected youth” reside in Bernalillo, Doña Ana or McKinley counties, and largely attributed their unemployment to housing instability, a lack of skills or training and low wages.

Since that report first published, lawmakers throughout the summer have consistently focused on the issue.

Monique Hernandez, the farm’s program manager, told state lawmakers that she believes programs like hers can offer a lifeline to those young New Mexicans who aren’t employed or attending school.

“I started as an in-trouble youth myself,” Hernandez said at Tuesday’s hearing. “I was hanging out with the wrong crowd and my mom was like, ‘You know what? You’re not going to stay home, so get to work,’ and she sent me to Anthony Youth Farm. I loved it there and created my whole career out of it.”

State lawmakers on the interim committee were enthused about the financial support they’ve directed to the program. The state Legislature earlier this year allocated $200,000 toward well construction at Anthony Youth Farm in its annual capital outlay package.

House Minority Whip Alan Martinez (R-Rio Rancho) said he would like to see programs like this established in other communities statewide, particularly Albuquerque’s South Valley, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe and Española.

“I love that idea because it has a buy-in for the whole state,” he said.

Rep. Doreen Gallegos (D-Las Cruces), who serves as chair of the interim committee, recalled approving state funding for the farm in one of her first votes as a state lawmaker after taking office in 2013.

“When we first did the ribbon cutting, it was just this piece of dirt,” she said. “I’m always very proud to see the work that you’ve done. When you see the kids out there planting and it’s 103 degrees out there, it’s very, very hard work.”