Partner Spotlight: NM Healthy Soil Working Group
We’d like to welcome our newest partner, New Mexico Healthy Soil Working Group!
NM Healthy Soil Working Group is a network of agriculture and conservation organizations, urban and rural residents, consumers, and producers committed to significantly advancing soil health stewardship in New Mexico. Through education, they aim to create widespread adoption of principles that result in excellent soil health and create strong land-based communities, nutritious food, healthy environments, and a viable future for our planet.
Most recently, NM Healthy Soil has been dedicated to flipping the script about composting. Research indicates the number of greenhouse gases released in landfills would dramatically decrease with the introduction of large-scale composting. That’s why NM Healthy Soil is currently working on a grant to help promote community composting. They hope to make it more accessible by promoting community composting and providing resources about composting in all its forms.
Composting is an integral part of regenerative agriculture, a movement to diversify and revitalize rural economies, providing ecological, human, and planetary health benefits for all New Mexicans. Because this education contributes to soil health, it allows farmers and ranchers to gain independence from costly fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, etc.
Through community education on the benefits of regenerative agriculture, NM Healthy Soil is able to provide resources to keep soil healthy and thriving, allowing farming systems to diversify and provide resilient food chains and in-state processing.
Education and advocacy are essential to helping NM Healthy Soil Working Group accomplish its goals in soil health, composting, and regenerative agriculture. Originally founded to pass the New Mexico Healthy Soil Act, they have worked tirelessly to expand their network of farmers and ranchers across New Mexico. NM Healthy Soil has a peer-to-peer learning network where farmers can share new and passed-down agricultural knowledge. Isabelle, NM Healthy Soil’s organizer, says it’s essential farmers connect and share their knowledge.
To learn more about regenerative agriculture and its benefits, check out the NM Healthy soil blog here.
The NM Healthy Soil Working Group will have many events this year. Mark your calendars for their upcoming event this February!