New Mexico farmers say rising fuel costs, drought pinching operations

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CORRALES — Anthony Wagner’s farm used to be home to what he called “one of the best orchards around.”

Wagner’s family has been farming in Corrales and Socorro since 1910. They had some 750 trees across 11 acres, planted 50 years ago and producing apples for decades.

No longer.

“I pretty much have lost my orchard, these two years with the drought,” Wagner said.

Prolonged drought is just one of several factors straining New Mexico’s small agricultural producers, a group of farmers and ranchers told U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich during a roundtable discussion Tuesday in Corrales. They said they’ve been hit hard by rising fuel costs, all while climate change brings warmer, drier weather to the Southwest and unexpected costs to family farms.

For consumers, that means higher prices at the farm stand, the meat market and the grocery store — though it’s not something Wagner takes pleasure in doing to his customers.

“I try to keep fair prices. I hate to bump up our prices,” he said.

The farmers and ranchers urged Heinrich to take their concerns back to Washington and pass policy that prioritizes small-scale producers, perhaps in the form of tax relief or through the next farm bill — a massive piece of legislation that sets food and agriculture priorities for multiple years. A new farm bill is normally passed about every five years, but after multiple extensions, the 2018 Farm Bill expired on Sept. 30, and an updated one has not been passed by Congress.

Changes at the federal level would dovetail with significant state efforts in the past decade to ensure New Mexicans have access to local food. In particular, the New Mexico Grown program, a state initiative that facilitates direct food purchases between community institutions — such as schools, daycares, food banks and senior centers — and New Mexico farmers and ranchers, has made a big difference for local producers, said Manny Encinias.

“It truly is working. New Mexico can be slapped in the face for how many things we’re trailing in, but on the local food system side of things, we’re leading,” said Encinias, a fifth-generation rancher who raises cattle at Buffalo Creek Ranch in Moriarty and sells beef under the Trilogy Beef Community name.

Agri-Cultura Network, a food hub that links small-scale producers to local institutions across 14 New Mexico counties, spent an average of about $1,000 per month on fuel in 2025, said Executive Director Helga Garza. The expense allowed the organization to distribute food statewide.

“Right now, that has doubled,” Garza said Tuesday during the discussion. “Every month, we’re spending anywhere from $2,000 to $2,500 a month on gas.”

The Iran war, which began in February, has sent gas prices soaring. Farmers and ranchers burn through a lot of gas as they transport products, check on spread-out herds and power equipment, such as tractors.

Zachariah Ben, a sixth-generation farmer and owner of the Aztec-based Indigenous baby food line Bidii Baby Foods, said he’d like to see specialized tax breaks for farmers ahead of April.

“It really, really hurts when your mission and what you do is feeding the people,” he said.

The farm bill might be a good place to make changes that support small producers, said Heinrich, a Democrat who grew up on a very small cow-calf operation. Too often, he argued, federal agriculture policy aims to support enormous operations growing commodity crops, rather than the small producers that are common in New Mexico and struggling under the weight of economic and environmental challenges.

The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, a Republican of Arkansas, introduced the Agriculture Act of 2026 — which he has called “Farm Bill 2.0” — late last month.

But, Heinrich said, that was a partisan bill devoid of the “magic of the farm bill” — which, he said, is supposed to create some kind of synergy between rural and urban Americans, between keeping farmers in business and bolstering the social programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that reduce hunger.

“When you do it in a partisan way, that coalition breaks down, and it makes it harder to pass a farm bill,” Heinrich said. “My hope is that as we see some policy corrections through this election cycle that we’re able to come back together and hammer out a bipartisan farm bill by the end of the year.”

Margaret O’Hara reports on issues affecting healthy communities in New Mexico. Her work is funded by a grant from Anchorum Health Foundation. Anchorum will not have any role in editorial decisions. The New Mexican and its Public Service Journalism Fund retain full editorial control. Philanthropically funded stories by The New Mexican are made available to all readers without a paywall.

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