American Friends Service Committee
Background
The Regional Lead Team in New Mexico, headed by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), is supporting the growth of a National Good Food Network by convening regional meetings, with a goal of creating a pilot program for local farmers and ranchers to scale up their production and connect them with regional distributors.
The Regional Lead Team includes Don Bustos of AFSC, Paula Garcia of the New Mexico Acequia Association, Pati Martinson and Terri Badhand of the Taos Economic Development Corporation, Edmund Gomez of the Alcalde Science Center, Carlos Salazar of the Northern New Mexico Stockman’s Association, and Robyn Seydel of La Montanita Co-Op.
We hope to work as a three-year scale-up program with several phases. In this initial phase, we want to achieve the following: 1) determine what information already exists about scaling up for local farmers and ranchers and/or collect information to create an inventory of ranchers and farmers within our region; 2) determine among regional participants what are the gaps and/or opportunities within the food shed as it currently exists; 3) find the linkages to fill the gaps with a mind to foster valued chain development, where the entire farm system—from food production to processing and distribution—works efficiently, to capacity, and responses effectively to market changes.
The Regional Lead Team in New Mexico connects diverse communities of farmers, ranchers, value added processors, distributors, and stakeholders in a "value chain" food system, share information in areas of marketing, training and technical assistance, and bring innovative models to a forum of regional participants.
Our Team
Don Bustos has more than twenty years’ experience as a New Mexican farmer and currently serves on the boards of several organizations including Western Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education, Western Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, New Mexico Acequica Association, Rio Arribba County Extension Service Advisory Committee, the Santa Cruz de la Canada Land Grant board and the National Immigrant Farming Initiative. He operates a certified organic vegan farm in Espanola, New Mexico and was named the New Mexico Farmer of the Year in 2006. He is the Program Director for the American Friends Service Committee-New Mexico, providing farmer to farmer training and working on farm policy. The American Friends Service Committee carries out service, development, social justice, and peace programs throughout the world.
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), founded in 1917, is an international nonprofit 
organization whose mission and achievements won worldwide recognition in 1947 when it accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. Since 1976, AFSC New Mexico has identified with the struggles of local people to empower themselves, with particular attention to water and land use and the need to support traditional ways of life.
AFSC New Mexico creates economic viability through the training of small farmers in sustainable agricultural practices, thereby protecting land and water rights and traditional cultural practices.
To this end, AFSC has assisted local people and organizations in regaining control over traditionally utilized water resources and determining their future use. The survival of these communities is highly dependent upon the next generation's ability to learn to manage and make use of these resources.
Paula Garcia is the Executive Director of the New Mexico Acequia Association. A native of Mora, New Mexico, she holds a Masters Degree in Community & Regional Planning, School of Architecture, at the University of New Mexico.
New Mexico Acequia Association was founded in 1990 to build a united voice for acequia communities throughout the state. The Association is a grassroots, membership-based organization that has worked to protect and strengthen acequias through community education, community organizing and policy advocacy.
Our mission is to sustain our way of life, protect water as a community resource, and strengthen the agricultural traditions of our families and communities. We work to defend acequia water rights so that current and future generations can grow food and can have a healthy and secure source of water for local community needs. An acequia is community-based system of irrigation and water governance and an acequia also refers to the community of farmers that cooperatively maintain the ditch and share water through custom and tradition. Acequias formed the basis for settlement of New Mexico’s Indo-Hispano communities between two and four hundred years ago and continue to be vital to the cultural and economic survival of the traditional communities of New Mexico.
Among acequias, we view water as the lifeblood of our communities because water brings us together as a community and water is essential to the continued survival of our way of life. New Mexico, like other arid states of the Southwest, is faced with unprecedented growth and demands for water. The NMAA was founded to protect the water rights of our communities by strengthening acequia self-governance at the local level and by becoming involved in water and land policy at the local and state levels.
Pati Martinson and Terrie Badhand, are the founders and directors of Taos County Economic Development Corporation, a community based organization celebrating its 20th year of operation and the current center for their lifelong work with indigenous and land-based cultures. Their model of Kinship and Extended Family Development led to the creation of a Small Business Incubator, Taos Business Park and Taos Food Center. These accomplishments are added to the creation of the Denver Indian Center Development Corporation, which provided the Native American community of Denver, Colorado with a new renovated facility, 48 units of elderly housing, commercial development and neighborhood revitalization.
Terrie and Pati are of mixed Native American ancestry and come from diverse backgrounds of challenge. They are able to move successfully between many worlds with consistency and with integrity.
They are experts in Community Facility and Asset Development which they believe are tools that provide focus for social justice work in education, health, social services, youth involvement, economic development and as venues for forums of exchange and civic engagement.
The Taos County Economic Development Center’s mission is “supporting the food, land, water, and cultures of the peoples of Northern New Mexico” Since 1987 TCEDC has worked to help land based peoples of Northern New Mexico build upon their traditions and expertise in recognition that the food sector represents an appropriate, relevant, and viable economic opportunity. TCEDC mobilizes families by providing tools and services that enable local people to increase income, create jobs and businesses, and promote healthy people in a healthy community. TCEDC is a cornerstone organization in the predominately low-income community of Taos, New Mexico. TCEDC's programs are prioritized in response to the most pressing needs of the community.
TCEDC's community leadership is reflective of our indigenous community. The organization has remained effective for over twenty years in large part because our Board of Directors and staff are of the community that we serve. We serve over 1,300 people each year through our multiple programs and projects. Our Board of Directors and staff are encouraged to take on leadership positions within the organization. We recognize that in order for change to occur, these are the people who need to be leading the direction. TCEDC programs focus on Hispanic, Native American, women and low wage families through programs that are designed to meet the needs of budding entrepreneurs, elders and youth.
Featured
Read more about Don Bustos and AFSC in our Oct09 Network News.
