NM Agricultural Workforce Development Program Act- Helping producers pay for the cost of employing interns:
If your business or organization operates in crop production, livestock production, food processing , or some form of value‐added agriculture, please read on and let us hear about your interest in and capacity for employing interns.
New Mexico First and the National Young Farmers Coalition, in partnership with the New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council and others, worked in 2019 to pass legislation (House Bill 315, sponsored by Rep. Paul Bandy and Rep. Joseph Sanchez) that establishes an internship program for more hands‐on training opportunities for those who are interested in New Mexico’s food system, from production to processing. In short, the program created by the Agricultural Workforce Development Program Act is intended to cultivate the next generation of agricultural professionals by reimbursing a qualified employer up to 50 percent of the costs to employ up to three interns each year.
The program’s first year of funding is limited, but we want to ensure those who want to participate are counted. We invite you to complete a brief survey that will enable us to log your best contact information and to note your expected capacity to participate in the program.
To begin and complete the survey, please visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/WBQJ8N8 or bit.ly/NMintern.
The internship program is derived from recommendations of the Resilience in New Mexico Agriculture strategic plan (the “Ag Plan”). With input from 13 regional town halls, a 35‐member task force developed 17 recommendations in 2017, covering land and water, the industry’s next generation, the supply chain, and economic viability. Later this year, original Ag Plan task force members and stakeholders who’ve since joined our action committees will review the Ag Plan to celebrate the completion of some recommendations and to prioritize remaining ones. If you’d like to take part in that deliberation, please complete the survey to ensure we have the best email address through which to contact you.
The Resilience in New Mexico Agriculture collective‐impact project has more progress to report than can be listed here. Please visit http://nmfirst.org/issues/agriculture to learn more about the Ag Plan and its initiatives.