COVID-19 Reveals Opportunities for Growth in New Mexico Agriculture

In partnership with: New Mexico Department of Agriculture

When Kevin Branum became aware of food shortages in the early days of the pandemic, he saw “opportunity” written all over it – but not for personal gain. “We saw folks within our community and our state in need of help,” he says. “They needed beef.” One of his best friends, Matt Sanchez, has a family cattle operation in Cubero, about 20 miles from Grants, where Branum and his wife, Bobbie, have a farm. “It was a combination of he and I wanting to help these people and his predicament: He had cattle in the feedlot going nowhere. He was losing significant amounts of money every day.”

They quickly launched a new business, M&K Fresh Meats, and started selling beef by the halves and wholes. In about three months, they harvested about 50 head of cattle.

It took some ingenuity since they were not retailers (you can use a custom processor if selling direct to consumers). As a workaround, they sold the cattle to the customers, and each customer worked directly with the processor on how they wanted the meat cut. Then M&K reentered the picture and arranged delivery. “We picked up five or eight head at a time, all packaged,” Branum says. He and Sanchez traveled across the state for days at a time, making deliveries in a rented freezer truck.

See more: Chefs Promote New Mexico Agriculture with Native Cuisine

In late May, when processors became backed up due to COVID-19 outbreaks, Branum says, “We had to go big.” They had 16 head of cattle harvested at a U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified processor and then sold them to customers.

The Branums were already growing vegetables on their farm and now had USDA beef that could be sold retail – so the 1912 Market on 66 was born. They repurposed a 5,000-square-foot former motorcycle dealership into a storefront on one side and Branum’s Farm Bureau Financial Services office on the other. The space in the center is for home schooling their three kids.

“If you can’t pivot, you’re never gonna make it,” Branum says.

Progress in Processing

The pandemic caused bottle-necked delays in meat processing across the nation. Fortunately, one solution in New Mexico was already in the works before COVID-19. Colorado ranchers Chip and Joanna Meston had been searching for a location to open a beef-processing plant, and they found the perfect spot in Las Vegas, about two hours northeast of Albuquerque.

Prior to that, their best option was Fort Worth, Texas – 800 miles from their ranch, which is just east of Denver. This lengthy journey would have been costly, time-consuming and hard on the animals being transported, because, as Chip says, “I don’t know anyone who wants to stand up for an 800-mile ride.”

High Plains Processing LLC is part of the Meston’s “pasture to plate” concept. This includes highly controlled animal genetics, foraging, feed and processing, with the beef marketed under the name “F bar J.” They’ll be distributing to destinations like Hanoi in Vietnam, a tourist mecca, where they have a satellite office.

Their plant will be USDA-inspected, and they’ll offer a range of options for ranchers: processing for the producer’s distribution, purchasing from the producer or a combination of the two. Meston is optimistic that once High Plains is fully operational, it will help relieve the current oversupply in New Mexico.

Let’s Keep Our Cattle

Kevin Branum says he and others are also committed to long-term changes. At a cattle growers’ event in December 2019, he connected with Vonda Frost, who was studying why the state of New Mexico was exporting all their beef, then importing it back. “When COVID hit, it brought things more to light. We found out our meat supply system – the distribution – is broken.”

Branum’s thinking is that if the meat goes out of state, they won’t get priority on distribution in hard times. “We decided it’s time to become self-sufficient: We need a new model for New Mexico beef.”

Together with their spouses, Branum and Frost launched the 1912 Beef Co. “Our ultimate goal is to have cattle born on the ground in New Mexico remain here, all the way to someone’s plate.” At its core is building a sense of community: neighbors helping out neighbors, just like with their market.

“I had never thought about having a brick-and-mortar store,” he says. “That just came out of the neighbors helping neighbors.”

Reaching Food Deserts

New Mexico’s 23 tribal nations were especially hard-hit by food shortages following the lockdowns. Indian Affairs Department Policy, Legislative Affairs, and Communications Bureau Chief Keegan King says that families were even more desperate because they’re located in food deserts.

“Many of New Mexico’s tribal citizens don’t even have access to a small grocery,” he says. They travel long distances for provisions and must limit trips; they might only go into town once or twice a month. “And many tribal communities still don’t have adequate access to running water.”

When tribal governments started calling his department for assistance, King and his team combined efforts with homeland security and other departments, creating a patchwork system for relief to provide food, water, food for animals, toiletries and medical supplies. They put calls out to large food distributors, talked to local farmers and located bottling company trucks to deliver water. Much of the early assistance was donated by suppliers.

When distribution became a challenge as tribal borders closed, the state arranged to have the National Guard make deliveries. New Mexico’s Emergency Operations Center coordinated requests for assistance, which also included Doctors Without Borders field hospitals.

“It was a monumental effort,” King says.

Some tribal communities responded in kind. For example, the Buffalo Thunder resort opened up its doors to people who tested positive for COVID-19 so they could self-quarantine. Initially, it was just for tribal citizens, but King says they later opened it up to non-Native Americans.

King is hopeful that one silver lining of COVID-19 might be more lasting changes. The focus now is to reestablish a resilient food system to ensure they won’t be at the whims of a food vendor, should there be another pandemic in the future.

See more: New Mexico Chefs, Restaurants and Organizations Highlight Local Food

“We want to look at the regional aspects to make sure every region has a robust food system in place,” King says. This will include working closely with the New Mexico farming community. He’s hopeful that state lawmakers will also look at how to invest in local food systems and agriculture.

“Out of this terrible pandemic, we’re starting to see solutions to the problems of the food desert and the lack of water,” he says. “We’re asking ourselves, ‘How do we reinvest in communities?’ We’re starting to see a turn.”