New Mexico Ranches, Rangeland Benefit from State’s Healthy Soil Program
by Kristie Garcia, New Mexico Department of Agriculture
W
hen Kim Barmann talks about the land she manages on the CS Ranch near Cimarron, she can’t help but bring up soil health.
“I’m such an advocate of soil health,” said Barmann. “We were grateful for the opportunity to have been chosen as one of the Healthy Soil Program projects.” The CS Ranch was awarded funding through the New Mexico Department of Agriculture’s (NMDA) Healthy Soil Program during its pilot year. Created in 2019, the purpose of the Healthy Soil Program is to promote and support farming and ranching systems and other forms of land management that increase soil organic matter, aggregate stability, microbiology and water
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retention to improve the state’s soil health, yield and profitability. During its first three years, the program has awarded approximately $600,000 to 62 on-the-ground projects. NMDA awarded funding to the CS Ranch for a project which addressed an old alfalfa/ brome hay field that had been farmed/ hayed since the 1930s but had declined after irrigation stopped years ago. Although drought prevented the project from reaching its full potential, Barmann said the funding was helpful. “The funding helped us get some roots in the ground, into these old fallow fields that were once hayed,” said Barmann. “We had some wonderful grass growth, despite the drought. Our big push is to eventually get cattle in to graze.” Barmann said education is a huge part of the CS Ranch. “We’ve hosted two Soil Health Academy Schools and will host another one in May,” she said. “We’ve also helped organize numerous workshops in the county. Anytime we can get people to come learn in person is a great opportunity.” She is thankful the state is realizing the importance of soil health. “We need so much momentum with the Healthy Soil Program right now,” she said. Healthy Soil Program funding may be used for projects in New Mexico that focus on one or more of five basic soil health principles named in the Healthy Soil Act: keeping the soil covered; minimizing soil disturbance on cropland and minimizing external inputs; maximizing biodiversity; maintaining a living root; and integrating animals into land management, including grazing animals, birds, beneficial insects or keystone species, such as earthworms. Grants are available to New Mexico’s Eligible Entities and Individual Applicants to implement soil improvement practices on working lands. Eligible Entities are defined as “local governmental [entities] with proven land management capacity to support healthy soil” and include nations, tribes and pueblos; land grants; acequias; soil and water conservation districts (SWCDs); and New Mexico State University’s Cooperative Extension Service. Individual Applicants include farmers and ranchers, as well as businesses and nonprofits engaged in farming, ranching or other forms of land management and must be backed by either a SWCD or a nation, tribe or pueblo. NMDA awarded funding to the M-Scar
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FEBRUARY 2022
