Veronica Grego, program manager for the Senior and WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program at the New Mexico Department of Health, told lawmakers the state adopted a mobile app and QR‑code shopper card in 2021 that replaced paper vouchers, letting participants spend incremental amounts and making benefits easier for farmers to accept. Grego said New Mexico was the first state to pilot the mobile‑app concept for WIC/FMNP in 2021.

Program reach and changes: Grego said the WIC FMNP serves pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum women and children 6 months to 5 years; the senior farmers market program serves eligible seniors (age thresholds vary for Native American participants). She told the committee that the program works with 47 participating farmers markets, 608 farmers signed up for the shopper‑cart mobile app, 40 farm stands and mobile markets and four food hubs. With current federal and state funding available for fiscal 2026 she said the WIC program could serve 2,385 participants and senior allocations could reach 15,352 combined participants with federal and state funds.

Produce boxes and refrigerated transport: Grego described a one‑time food‑box pilot that assembled boxes of $50–$100 value and delivered them to rural seniors using local farmers and food‑hub partners (AgroCultura, Frontier Food Hub, New Mexico Harvest and others). She also said the program received a refrigerated food truck through the governor’s food initiative and scheduled deliveries to underserved markets.

Context and limitations: Grego emphasized the federal funding rules that shape benefit amounts (annual, single allotments for some programs) and said state nonrecurring funds have been used to expand outreach and pilot deliveries in areas without farmers markets. She told lawmakers the program does not currently reach the total number of WIC families in New Mexico (459,000 annual WIC family service referenced in testimony) and that outreach and capacity remain limiting factors.