Officials, farmers talk organic program

Area farmers were invited by to the Roosevelt County Extension Office Tuesday afternoon to voice their concerns and ask questions about the the New Mexico Department of Agriculture's organic program.

David Lucero, division director of marketing and development with NMDA, opened the meeting with a presentation that illustrated challenges facing the organic program, saying that “the current assessment fee structure does not provide sufficient funding to cover the cost of operation.”

“When I first took over the program, the first thing I did was I ran some cash flow statements and some income and expense statements, and I knew immediately that, based on the number of people that we had, the size of each of the farms and the criteria and how it was set up, I knew it wasn’t going to cash flow,” Lucero said. “We knew that we had this $200,000 that was coming in, and we knew we could buy a little time until we figured it out. Well, we’ve spent all of the money, and we still haven’t figured it out. That’s why we’re here now.”

According to NMDA Deputy Director Anthony Parra, the organic program is at a “crossroads,” and NMDA wanted to “get the feel for what people wanted us to do. How do we design it going forward? The main message that I want to carry forward from the secretary’s office is that we see organic production from the state as blossoming and growing.”

When Parra asked the farmers if the state government needs to be in the same business as the private sector as far as organic certification, Robert Gordon of Gorma Dairy in northern Quay County said that he thought so.

He continued by asking Parra what percentage of organic is certified through NMDA.

“We can’t answer that. I don’t have a solid answer,” Parra said.

Another question directed at the farmers was whether they would be willing to carry an initiative to look at changing the program’s fee structure.

“Our application, inspection and certification fee for renewal is $200. If you go to the private sector, it’s about $1,063 for certification, application and inspection, plus travel costs,” Lucero said.

He mentioned that eight companies technically generate 55 to 60 percent of the total income of the organic program.

“We certify somewhere in the neighborhood of 152, 153, right around that number. There’s eight of them at the very top that generate 55 percent of the income. There’s about another 40 that will generate $650 or more in assessments, and then the remaining amount, which is 100 plus, generate less,” he said.

Gordon said that not all fees for organic certification and assessment should be set up the same.

“We’re going to go somewhere else. We’re going to be forced to. I hate to say it, but the small guys have got to pay what it costs. We’re paying more than it costs,” he said.

The presentation offered three separate options for consideration: Continuing the program with an advisor and a certifier or inspector, continuing with only a certifier or inspector or continuing only with an advisor.

When surveyed about what option they would prefer, four people voted for the first option, which is the current state of the department. There were no hands raised for the other two options.

Albin Smith of Red Roof Dairy said that while the program “could live without” the advisor position if it had to, he was interested in continuing with an advisor.

Parra stressed to the farmers the importance of perseverance at this juncture.

“We can’t quit in good faith in the middle of a certification year. We can’t walk away and leave people hanging in mid-process. We’re committed to carrying the program forward for a while,” he said. “That’s why we’re here today. We’ve got a window, a 60-day lawmaking session, coming up. If the industry decides it wants to look forward and wants to keep the program, then we need to start getting it together.”