By: Juan Ramirez
The Emergency Relief Program is an amazing opportunity for the farmers and ranchers nationwide. ERP covers losses to crops, trees, bushes, and vines due to a qualifying natural disaster event in calendar years 2020 and 2021.
Latino Farmers and Ranchers International, LFRI under the guidance and leadership of Rudy Arredondo, in partnership with Flower Hill Institute, is implementing ERP-2 in the following states around the country: New Mexico, California, Colorado.
As part of the ERP-2, on April 27, 2023 LFRI held an in-person meeting in Apple Tree Cafe, located at 5000 Corrales Rd, Corrales NM. from 9:00am to 1:00pm for the North Valley farmers. The main goal was to provide information about the program (ERP 2) among the attendees.
During the meeting, we delivered information about ERP 2, Agriculture Taxation, Corporate Structure, Financial Statement, Payroll Services, and how to educate farmers on being structured as businesses. In addition, they also shared what every organization is doing in their areas.
Atoinette Lucero, Latino Farmers and Ranchers field representative, is leading the project. Antoinette has been with LFRI for six years, focusing on outreach to farmers and ranchers nationwide. She has actively been on the planning committees for all LFRI congressos and she has had a chance to work on the LFRI resolutions and farm bill deliberations for the last three years. Her experience and expertise allow us to achieve the project goals, as she is focused on sharing the necessary information with the stakeholders. Antoinette is well known in the New Mexico area and has been supported in this journey by Lawrence Gallegos, an experienced farmer and agriculture subject matter expert.
LFRI will continue with a boots-on-the-ground approach, reaching as many farmers and ranches as possible; implementing different strategies to achieve the goals. The strategies include:
- In person meetings
- Social media strategy
- Door by Door
- Word of mouth
- Sharing information in different events.
- Partnering with Women in Ranching, Farmer Veteran Coalition, Flower Hill Institute, and Farmer’s Outreach.
The next event will take place on Wednesday, May 10 at 318 Isleta Blvd SW, Albuquerque, NM 87105 – South Valley Economic Development Center, from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. If you would like to get more info about the ERP program or the meeting, please feel free to reach out to Anotinette Lucero at (505) 737-4483, email momtreez18@gmail.com. You can also contact us:
- To request assistance under USDA’s FSA ERP-2 Outreach, Education, & Technical Assistance Program, please visit www.lfrinc.org
- Contact Latino Farmers and Ranchers International at info@lfrinc.org
- If you are Located in California please contact our field representative Jesus Pineda at (559) 540-1621, email xuxomp@gmail.com.
- If you are located in Maryland, Virginia or Washington DC, please contact Juan Ramirez at (240) 821-4210, email juan@thetadconsulting.com or Rudy Arredondo at (301) 366-8200, email latinofarmers@gmail.com.
Our farmers and ranchers need us and we are here to support them! You can help us to spread the word about this program within your network, farmers, ranchers, stakeholders, etc,.
“This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number FSA23CPT0012915. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.”