Elena Paesano, director of the Approved Supplier Program at the New Mexico Farmers Marketing Association, told the Legislative Interim Committee on Agriculture and Livestock on Aug. 7 that the program is a key market-entry pathway for small diversified farms and ranches seeking wholesale institutional buyers. “The Approved Supplier Program is an entry point for producers that are looking to scale up their operations to access wholesale markets,” Paesano said, and added that the coalition is “asking for $430 of, reoccurring funding.”

Why it matters: State-administered institutional purchasing programs — collectively referred to as New Mexico Grown — channel public meal and nutrition money into local farms and ranches. Supporters say stable state funding helps producers plant and plan across fiscal years, raises meal quality in schools and senior centers, and keeps revenue circulating in rural communities.

Committee testimony and context: Paesano said New Mexico Grown began about a decade ago and has grown from a few dozen producers to “well over 250 farmers and ranchers across the state.” Liz Annakini, Healthy Universal School Meals program manager at the Public Education Department, told the committee that New Mexico Grown touches nearly a quarter-million K‑12 students, more than 7,500 children in early-childhood programs and about 50,000 unduplicated seniors through senior centers. She said the program has helped increase “scratch cooking” in school kitchens by prompting schools to cook from raw ingredients such as fresh vegetables and whole meats.

Partners’ role: Paesano and other panelists described coordination across agencies and nonprofits — the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction / Public Education Department, the Department of Health, the Economic Development Department, regional food hubs and the farmers association — that provide food-safety training, buyer–grower matchmaking and infrastructure grants. Examples offered: Double Up Food Bucks matches at farmers markets; partnerships with the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program; and Healthy Food Financing Fund grants to retailers that expanded cold storage and increased purchases from local producers.

Producers’ scale and economic impact: Panelists said most Approved Suppliers are small farms (many under 10 acres) and some qualify as historically marginalized under USDA definitions. Paesano estimated institutional purchases tied to New Mexico Grown amount to “somewhere between a 4 and $5,000,000 market opportunity” flowing back to producers; committee testimony included additional local examples such as Roswell Independent Schools spending more than $1 million annually on New Mexico Grown products.

Outstanding questions and funding request: Paesano and colleagues pressed for recurring state funding to make markets reliable across mismatched state fiscal and farming seasons. The coalition seeks stable appropriations to sustain procurement awards across agencies and to support supply‑chain investments that keep producers selling year‑round.

What’s next: Committee members asked for more localized producer counts and for data from the New Mexico Local Food Data Portal to show per-county participation and pricing ranges. Officials said the portal can generate site- and agency-level reports and that the Approved Supplier list and product data are public and updated regularly.