press releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will soon enable livestock producers to sign up for disaster assistance, which the senators helped to pass in the Farm Bill earlier this month. The assistance is being expedited -- signups will begin in 60 days -- at the...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich today announced that they have sent a bipartisan letter signed by a coalition of senators to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, encouraging the USDA to expedite the implementation of the livestock disaster programs reauthorized in the 2014 Farm Bill.  The Farm...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and Climate Action Task Force, issued the following statement welcoming the news that Jornada Experimental Range in Las Cruces will be the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Southwest Regional "climate hub." The USDA...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich today joined the Senate in passing the Farm Bill, major legislation that will send needed assistance to N.M. farmers and livestock producers, and help almost every N.M. county provide basic public services. The Farm Bill, which provides agriculture funding...

On a tour Thursday, Jan. 23, of Sapphire Energy’s research and development facility in the West Mesa Industrial Park, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich addressed the unique nature of the advanced biodiesel industry and the challenge it poses for legislators. “Advanced bio-fuels are caught between the silos of agricultural regulations and oil...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Reps. Steve Pearce, Ben Ray Luján, and Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that 27 counties in New Mexico will qualify for emergency loan assistance from the Farm Service Agency (FSA) due to losses caused by the ongoing drought. A full list of counties is...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich called on Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to make emergency purchases for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to ensure food banks in New Mexico and across the country are able to help families in need. TEFAP buys food and makes it available to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich are calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Trade Representative to work with consumers, ranchers and meatpackers to make sure that American families know where their meat comes from.   The World Trade Organization (WTO) recently required the USDA to adjust...