New Mexico farmers know a thing about weather-related disasters but their advice is seldom sought, Democrat U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján said in a news release issued last week.
Farmers in the state have gained that knowledge that dates back "hundreds of years," Luján said in the news release issued Friday, adding that "farming has a long, storied history in New Mexico,"
"Our communities are filled with farmers who have the knowledge and experience to address the unique challenges of unexpected weather, drought, and flooding," Luján, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said in the news release. "Unfortunately, existing federal resources are suffering from staffing shortages and additional resources often provide unspecific information."
Luján issued the news release to announce the Farmer to Farmer Education Act that he and Kansas that he and Republican Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas jointly introduced. The Farmer to Farmer Education Act proposes authorizing the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to enter cooperative agreements with community-based organizations in each state, empowering them to identify and strengthen established and emerging peer-to-peer networks or create new ones. The legislation also would encourage greater coordination between NRCS and the USDA, according to the news release.
"The Farmer to Farmer Education Act is a bipartisan solution that will help strengthen coordination between farmer-to-farmer networks, and the USDA and NRCS," Luján said. "Improving this connection will help provide specialized and timely information for farmers, helping protect their crops and livestock."
Luján and Moran jointly introduced the bipartisan legislation that aims to broaden of peer-to-peer networks, which have proven beneficial in assisting farmers to managing numerous challenges. The networks are valuable resources for farmers and ranchers, offering a platform for seeking advice and solutions from fellow industry professionals, according to the news release.
The legislation also seeks to address gaps in federal programs by providing support and guidance to these networks, leveraging existing technical assistance resources and fostering farmer-led education networks.
"Farmers and ranchers across the country face many conservation challenges, including staffing shortages at NRCS, which limits their access to conservation technical assistance," Moran said in the news release. "This legislation would allow farmer-to-farmer groups to develop cooperative agreements with USDA to share conservation concepts and new practices."
Erin Foster West, Policy Director at the National Young Farmers Coalition, also weighed in.
"Many farming communities already hold considerable knowledge of how to adapt to the droughts, floods, and other climate events farmers are experiencing across the U.S.," Foster West said in the news release. "The Farmer to Farmer Education Act will invest in knowledge sharing within those communities so that young farmers can learn from friends and neighbors whom they trust. This investment will fill a gap in conservation technical assistance delivery to ensure information farmers receive is in their own language and relevant to their cultural farming and ranching practices."
American Farmland Trust has its eye on this legislation, AFT Policy Director Tim Fink said in the news release.
"Increasing farmer-to-farmer education is one of AFT’s key priorities in the upcoming Farm Bill," Fink said in the news release. "Access to sound and trusted information from other farmers is critical to the long-term, successful adoption of conservation practices that help farmers build resilience and keep their operations viable. We applaud Senators Luján and Moran for introducing a bipartisan bill that would build capacity for farmer-to-farmer learning to facilitate long-term conservation practice adoption by farmers and ranchers, including young and Black and Indigenous farmers and other farmers of color. We urge Congress to support inclusion of this legislation in the 2023 Farm Bill."