Taking Local Food Further: A conversation with NM Department of Health’s Veronica Griego about SFFMI’s partnership bringing fresh, local food to rural New Mexico.
“When you see the faces of the people receiving these food boxes, it’s amazing,” says New Mexico Farmers Market Programs Manager Veronica Griego. “Some of them start to cry because they haven’t had fresh produce in a while.”
Behind those deliveries is a partnership between the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute and the New Mexico Department of Health that brings fresh, locally grown food to rural communities, tribal communities, senior centers and WIC families across New Mexico while creating new markets for local farmers and keeping more food dollars in the state.
It all began with a simple question: How could the program reach communities without a farmers’ market? We spoke with Veronica about how that question grew into a partnership with the Institute, and what it has meant for the people it serves.
The following interview has been edited for readability and brevity.
SFFMI: How did this partnership between the New Mexico Department of Health and the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute begin?
Veronica: It began about three or four years ago when I first started with the New Mexico Department of Health Farmers Market Nutrition Program. I wondered, “How could this program get food to areas of our state that don’t have a farmers’ market?”
When I mapped out where our farmers’ markets, WIC clinics, food pantries and senior centers were located, I saw a big gap in New Mexico. I realized most of our food sources were concentrated in central part of the state. We were missing rural communities, and we needed to start serving those places.
At that point, I started working with David [Sundberg, SFFMI’s Program Development Director], and we came up with the idea of providing produce bags to these areas.
Last year, I started working with Golden Spread, a food pantry in Clayton serving Union and Harding Counties. That’s a huge area where there is very little access to fresh produce, and we decided, “Hey, let’s do some bulk produce delivery here.” I talked to David and said, “What do you think about this?” And he said, “Let’s do it.” He’s always up for it whenever I bring him an idea.
From there, the program just kept growing into other small communities throughout New Mexico.
How has the partnership evolved since it first started?
Working with David has helped the food bag program grow. Other food hubs and farmers around the state have heard about what we’re doing and asked how they could create food boxes too. This collaboration has really made me think beyond Santa Fe and Albuquerque. It has made me ask, “How can we go further?” What started as a pilot has grown far beyond what we expected.
Our WIC clinics now order food boxes each season so families receive fresh local produce regularly. If we can just get that produce into their hands, it may change something for them. That’s the hope—that they understand the value of local produce, how nutritious it is, and discover foods they may never have tried before.
One of the things I asked David recently was, “Do you think one of our farmers would grow watermelon for us? Do you think they’ll grow corn? Those are the things people want.” David’s awesome. He talked to our farmers and got them to grow those crops specifically for us. Now those distributions will go out to our senior centers, tribal communities and WIC clinics.
For readers who aren’t familiar with the program, how does the partnership work?
The Farmers Market Nutrition Program has been around for more than 27 years. We still receive federal funding, but it only covers about 5,000 participants, and that’s not enough for New Mexico. We have more than 67,000 seniors enrolled through Aging and Long-Term Care Services. So we had to start thinking outside the box.
Working with David, the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute has been an enormous help in getting farmers signed up to provide produce for the program. There are only two or three of us (at the Department of Health) covering the entire state, so having the Farmers’ Market Institute helping with outreach has made a huge difference.
The way we pay our farmers for bulk purchases or any of our food bags that we distribute is that David orders the produce from the farmers. Then I get an invoice of what we’re purchasing, and from there I run the transaction directly to the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute, and they automatically pay the farmers.
Since the Mobile Market began, David has also been assisting us in helping sign up our seniors. He gives them the application, talks to them about the program, how it works, what benefits they’re going to get and what they can buy. It has just been a great collaboration.
What impact have these deliveries had on the communities they serve?
Participants who pick up produce from Golden Spread Food Pantry are expecting it every month. When it’s not produce season, they’re asking, “When do we get our fresh produce?” It’s really neat to sit with people, hand them the produce and explain what everything is.
People tell us they’ve seen the difference between store-bought produce and fresh produce. They’ll say, “I got that cabbage last month and it’s still in my fridge. I loved the cabbage. I loved the microgreens.” Or, “This produce has really lasted us a long time. It tastes great and we just love it.” It’s wonderful to hear that feedback because people don’t always tell you when something is making a difference.
We’ve heard similar feedback from our tribal senior centers, where people are excited to see fresh produce being dropped off. Our WIC clinics tell us families are really enjoying the produce too.
The majority of the places where we are doing food boxes, there’s maybe one small grocery store, family owned, that is in the area. And that’s about it. We just did a huge distribution in Hillsboro, New Mexico. It’s a town of about 130 people. Where do they get their produce unless they’re growing it themselves? We went out there, provided fresh produce and nobody knew what our program was. Everybody was amazed. We even made a huge salad for everyone to taste, and they could taste the difference.
Looking ahead, what excites you most about the future?
We’ve grown from serving about 5,000 seniors to more than 40,000 people. That includes food boxes, food bags, community events and individual benefits.
The more people we can serve, the better. I’m trying to expand the food box program into more communities across New Mexico, especially more senior centers and tribal communities. Now it’s just about getting the word out.
Why is it so important to bring fresh, local food directly to underserved communities?
When you see the faces of the people receiving these food boxes, it’s amazing. Some of them start to cry because they haven’t had fresh produce in a while. Once they see that honey, it’s like gold to them.
To me, it’s about meeting people where they are instead of expecting them to come to us. Sometimes people feel overlooked, so with this program we go to them. We show them we’re there for them. We want to serve them. We’ll be there for you, and we’ll take that produce to you.