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State Specialty Crops Funding
Funding will be available under the New Mexico Specialty Crops Program
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NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE MSC 3189, P.O Box 30005 - Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003-8005 Office of the Director/Secretary Dr. I. Miley Gonzalez, Director/Secretary |
| MEDIA ADVISORY | Fax: (575) 646-8120 |
| For Immediate Release | Contact: Ricardo Gonzales (575) 646-7079 |
| February 24, 2010 |
State Specialty Crops Funding
New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA) announced today that funding will be available under the New Mexico Specialty Crops Program. Funds are available to New Mexico organizations and individuals that have a long-term commitment to improving the economic viability of New Mexico's rural economy or have projects with a significant value-added potential.
Dr. I. Miley Gonzalez, secretary of agriculture, stated, “These funds are intended to help you add more value to your specialty crops that, in turn, ensures the long-term viability of the New Mexico’s specialty crops industry.” The Specialty Crops Program provides limited funding for marketing projects, promotional activities, market potential surveys, and specialty crop production demonstrations for high-value specialty crops. High-value products are agricultural crops that have a value-added component, are unique, provide alternatives to existing crops, promote sustainable development, and have potential to enhance New Mexico's rural economy.
“The Specialty Crops funding can offer companies and organizations resources to explore new ideas which can provide positive, long-term impacts to their industries,” according to David Lucero, director of the Marketing and Development Division at NMDA. Applicants have used these funds successfully to develop markets and conduct advertisement and promotional activities. Funds also enable applicants to perform pilot projects and production demonstrations for new directions in growing and processing agricultural projects as well as to complete marketing surveys to provide guidance for future market development.
NMDA has implemented a new application process this year. The deadline to submit a concept proposal to NMDA is April 2, 2010. For detailed information on the application process, including proposal formats and deadlines, contact Craig Mapel at (505) 852-3088 or Felicia Frost at (575) 646-4929 or go to the NMDA web page at http://www.nmda.nmsu.edu to print a brochure.
