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For many of New Mexico’s students, school meals are crucial, with more than 80% of them receiving half their daily calories from school breakfasts and lunches. Now, new nutrition standards from he U.S. Department of Agriculture aim to make these meals healthier and prevent diet-related diseases which are on the rise.
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New Mexico hasn’t had a state meat inspection program since 2007, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture took it over due to “repetitive noncompliance with federal standards,” according to a 2021 legislative report. Proposals to bring it back have failed to clear both chambers of the Legislature four years in a row, but this year’s bill still has a chance of reaching the governor’s desk.
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Old growth forests are a natural and crucial resource for mitigating the ongoing effects of climate change because they provide clean drinking water and absorb carbon from our atmosphere.
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16 communities in Southern New Mexico improved their water by creating one common utility. Now, they’re serving as a model for others in the state.
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Congress avoided a government shutdown last week with a stopgap funding measure. However, the all-important farm bill, which is passed every five years, expired on September 30. Despite the chaos in Washington, state agriculture experts highlighted benefits the new farm bill will eventually bring during a legislative committee this week.
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Come Sunday, if there’s no movement in Congress, firefighters will be expected to man the fire line without pay.
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The USDA is investing in new offices nationwide to help people growing food in cities. One of these new Urban Service Centers is in Albuquerque.
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The Bureau of Land Management has announced it’s canceling its controversial plan to spray the Rio Chama watershed with 670 gallons of a toxic insecticide –– for now.
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Pressure from northern New Mexico residents and conservationists has forced the U.S. Department of Agriculture to delay its plans to spray 25,000 acres of the Rio Chama watershed with toxic pesticides known as “carbaryl.” The spray is now set for July 7th, but opponents are now pushing to cancel the plan indefinitely.
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Federal officials are set to use an insecticide that’s toxic to fish and insects over 25,000 acres of land in the Rio Chama watershed to kill native grasshoppers.