Food, Hunger, and Agriculture Program
Divisions and Offices
Image 1: Bidii Baby Foods, LLC, Image 2: Nelson Family Farms – produce processing and storage facility, Image 3: Ledoux Grange LLC, and Image 4: The Kitchen Table, Santa Fe – Freeze Drying
The mission of the Food, Hunger, and Agricultural Program is to support the intersection of economic development in New Mexico’s food and agricultural sector with increased food security for New Mexicans.
The Food, Hunger, and Agriculture Program is part of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Food Initiative and prioritizes:
- Developing financial tools and technical assistance tailored for small and mid-scale food processing and agricultural enterprises
- Increasing access to food for historically under-resourced communities
- Addressing workforce development challenges through the creation and retention of jobs in the food and agricultural supply chain.
- Strengthening and diversifying in-state market channel access for small and mid-scale food and agricultural operations
- Advancing food safe storage/aggregation, distribution and transportation in regional food supply chain networks
- Supporting producers in the implementation of regenerative agricultural practices
Grants and Initiatives
Healthy Food Financing Fund (HFFF)
The State Healthy Food Financing Fund is the cornerstone initiative of the Food, Hunger, and Agriculture Program, designed as a strategic, phased approach to building a comprehensive set of financial tools and technical assistance for food and agricultural enterprises. Its purpose is to support businesses that grow, raise, process, aggregate, distribute, and sell local, fresh, and healthy food, while strengthening expanded retail and institutional in-state market channels. The program is intentionally focused on rural and underserved communities, where access to capital and infrastructure has historically been limited. By aligning financing with technical assistance, the fund helps strengthen the full value chain of the local food system and advance long-term market development priorities within EDNM.
Retail Grocery: Communities of Practice (CoP)
The Communities of Practice (CoP) initiative is a collaborative network-building effort designed to connect practitioners, partners and stakeholders working across New Mexico’s food system and related economic development efforts. It provides a structured space for shared learning, problem-solving and coordination across regions and sectors, helping to surface best practices and align strategies around common challenges such as supply chain development, local procurement and infrastructure gaps.
Through regular convenings and ongoing engagement, the CoP strengthens relationships between public agencies, tribal entities, nonprofits, and private-sector partners, improving the overall coherence and effectiveness of food system investments led by the EDNM.
Resilient Food System Infrastructure (RSFI)
A cooperative agreement between the New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service. EDNM is a subcontracted partner to support middle-of-the-supply-chain coordination.
The USDA-RFSI program is designed to address critical middle-of-the-supply-chain needs for locally and regionally produced food products, with a focus on infrastructure and coordination points that often fall between production and retail. It benefits consumers, producers, and rural communities by expanding food options, improving access to regionally sourced products, and creating new — and more robust — market opportunities for small and mid-sized producers. In doing so, it also helps bridge gaps left by existing federal funding programs, filling structural needs that are not fully covered elsewhere and strengthening the overall resilience of regional food systems through targeted, infrastructure-level investment under the broader framework of the USDA.
America's Food Financing Initiative (HFFI)
A federal initiative was awarded to Vida Mejor Capital. EDNM is a subcontracted partner to provide grant capital to the food retail and supply chain businesses in New Mexico. America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) Partnerships Program is designed to invest in local capacity and capital to establish and grow partnerships between organizations that are working at the local, state, or regional level to provide financing and technical assistance to food retail and supply chain businesses in underserved communities.
Here in New Mexico, we call this the New Mexico Food Pathways Program: www.nmfoodpathways.orgt
EDD’s State Plan identifies sustainable and value-added agriculture as one of 9 target industries for economic development to build a diverse and robust economy that engages local talent, cultivates innovation, and delivers prosperity for all New Mexicans.
The following excerpts from the State Plan speak to the need for technical assistance and financial tools tailored to small-midscale food processing and agricultural operations.
“Agriculture, particularly of the sustainable variety, is a capital-intensive industry with significant up-front costs associated with investments in land and industrial infrastructure, such as heavy machinery. The ability for agricultural firms to easily access capital is a necessity for the establishment of a technology-enabled and sustainable agriculture industry…
…Stakeholders have indicated that New Mexico’s agriculture industry remains well-positioned to expand into the future. However, this expansion will require the state and stakeholders to capitalize on a number of opportunities arising in the near- and mid-term; many of these opportunities will require investments in financing mechanisms, education and training programs, and industry-relevant infrastructure development…
..Increasing food processing capacity in New Mexico will require additional and more stable funding mechanisms for producers in the state…the establishment of a revolving loan fund or non-traditional lending program for New Mexico’s agriculture industry could help the state expand food processing operations in rural and urban regions of the state.”
Contact Info
Erin Ortigoza, Food, Hunger, & Agriculture Program Manager, (505) 819-8914
Jayme Chester, Food Value Chain Coordination Rep, (505) 695-8440