SOCORRO, New Mexico (STPNS) --

To the Editor:

I was recently forwarded a letter from members of the “business community” that identified their preferred candidates for the upcoming election for the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District board of directors, including the Socorro County position, for which they endorsed Chris Sichler.  

In the letter, the signatories state that several of the other candidates “are in conflict with the business community,” implying that Joe Lopez, Glen Duggins and Cecilia McCord are anti-business. I was puzzled by this criticism, as I know of all of these Socorro County farmers, know they each have profitable ag businesses, and certainly never perceived them as anti-business.  



As a neighbor of Cecilia’s, I am most familiar with her credentials for the board position.  In addition to running a successful and profitable farming business, Cecilia has dedicated her time (most of it volunteer) over the past decade to promote and create markets for New Mexico agricultural products, working with government and non-profit agencies.  

She was a co-founder of the Socorro Farmers Market and has worked with the New Mexico Farmers’ Marketing Association to support creating markets throughout the state.

She worked with the state Food and Agriculture Council to develop legislative funding for the Farm to School Program, which purchases New Mexico farm produce for our children’s public-school lunches. Finally, in her role as the executive director of the non-profit organization Rio Grande Agricultural Land Trust, she has brought $2 million in state and federal funding directly to MRGCD farmers who choose to preserve their family farms, providing an alternative to selling water rights.

Curious as to how this “business group” developed its position on these candidates as anti-business, I called Cecilia and she told me that neither she nor the other candidates were contacted or interviewed by the group. Brief Internet research revealed that each of the individuals who signed the endorsement is involved in real-estate development in Santa Fe or Albuquerque (as realtors, architects and engineers, or lawyers involved in transferring water rights out of Socorro). I have put “business” in quotes above, because they do not represent a broad range of businesses (especially ag business), rather they are developers bent on drying up Socorro County farmland to support their development projects in the cities up north.

Finally, I noted that one of the signers, Ron Bohannon, a water manager for the new Rancho Viejo development in Santa Fe, is currently working with Corrales farmer Jimmy Wagner to transfer nearly 300 acre-feet of water rights off his farm in Socorro (formerly owned and operated by the Greenwalds). In the letter, the group endorsed Jimmy Wagner for the Sandoval County position; in Socorro County, they support Chris Sichler. If a MRGCD candidate’s goal is to “keep the valley green,” this is one “business” group whose endorsement I would not want.

Joaquin Lujan

Polvadera