Facts

  • New Mexico spends $5 billion on food per year that is eaten in New Mexico. Because no agency tracks cash receipts for imported food and food products, estimates for imported food vary from $3 to 4.8 billion. In short, 97% of the actual food (by volume, weight) is estimated to be imports from outside the State.
  • About 12% ($385 million) of all agricultural cash receipts come from global trade, but it could be more because any food or food product leaving the State has an unknown destination. Of the 12%, about 25% of the trade is with Mexico and Canada, the NAFTA trade partners.
  • From a cash point of view, about 87% of agricultural production enters the domestic (out-of-state) markets. Only about one to two percent of food trading occurs within the Local Foodshed and State.
  • New Mexico’s cash receipts (2007) from farming totaled almost $3.1 billion. World exports (2008) estimated at $385 million.
  • New Mexico top exports are: Processed foods ($111,058,976); Crops ($38,143,000); Animal production ($7,313,000).
  • About 25% of all New Mexico exports are to Mexico and Canada (NAFTA).
  • New Mexico-to-NAFTA: $727,626,390 for all kinds of exports. Processed Foods: $60,602,000; Crop Production: $11,621,000; Animal Production: $6,896,000.
  • Major world exports: tree nuts, dairy, wheat and wheat products, grain and grain products.
  • Consistent trade partners: Japan, China, UK, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Israel
  • Frequent trade partners: Germany, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Spain, Denmark, Italy
  • New trade partners: South Korea, Pakistan, Turkey, Venezuela, Vietnam, Central America, Yemen, Peru, Argentina, Sri Lanka, Trinidad/Tobago
  • New Mexico exports in its top six commodity groups to the top six importing nations (China, Malaysia, Mexico, Canada, Philippines, Japan) include only one agricultural product:  food industry residues and waste which go to the Philippines to prepare animal food ($97,000). Dairy products were the eighth largest money earner in exports for New Mexico ($19,610,644, 2007); then sugar and sugar confectionery ($16,106,684); and fertilizers ($11,215,233).
  • New Mexico’s 90-acre Santa Teresa port of entry can house about 30,000 cattle on an average day. The most modern of the nation’s cattle ports of entry, Santa Teresa handles about a quarter of the cattle that enter the United States from Mexico, some 250,000 feeder animals. The Santa Teresa port of entry is in reality two facilities: San Jerónimo on the Mexican side receives cattle trucked from the northern states of Mexico, where they are inspected, tested and dipped; then moved across the border to Santa Teresa, where they’re sold and shipped.

Export Data by Crop

YearWheat &
Products
RiceFeed Grains &
Products
Soybeans &
Products
Sunflower
Seeds & Oil
 2004 25.8 0.0 11.9 0.0 0.0
 2005 27.8 0.0 10.6 0.0 0.0
 2006 18.2 0.0 10.5 0.0 0.0
 2007 37.7 0.0 12.6 0.0 0.0
 2008 33.4 0.0 23.9 0.0 0.0
      
YearTree nutsVegetables &
Preps
Live Animals &
Meat
Hides &
Skins
Poultry &
Products
Fats,
Oils & Greases
Dairy
Products
 2004 23.0 14.1 3.3 0.8 0.00.20.0
 2005 26.2 15.3 3.4 1.0 0.00.10.0
 2006 34.1 16.7 4.2 0.7 0.00.179.4
 2007 35.3 19.2 4.1 0.4 0.00.1111.5
 200861.5 20.8 5.9 0.4 0.00.1179.4