NM Legislature Boosts Water Conservation with $5M Ag Program

SANTA FE — The New Mexico Legislature wrapped its 2025 session with a major win for water-scarce farms, approving HB 2 to launch the Agricultural Water Resilience Program at New Mexico State University. Allocated $5 million, the initiative offers grants to counties and municipalities helping producers upgrade infrastructure, adopt efficient technologies, shift to drought-tolerant crops and refine practices in agriculture-heavy areas like Doña Ana and Chaves counties.

This comes as New Mexico grapples with endangered rivers post the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 Sackett v. EPA ruling, which curtailed federal oversight and thrust state control into the spotlight. Lawmakers paired HB 2 with $9 million for soil and water conservation districts over three years, $1.2 million for the Acequia and Community Ditch Fund vital to northern Hispanic farming traditions, and $5 million to advance the 2023 Water Security Act for regional planning against supply drops. Tax credits under HB 105 further sweeten the deal, reimbursing farmers 75% of costs—up to $50,000—for irrigation overhauls tied to conservation plans.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has championed such efforts, praising related HB 137's focus on brackish groundwater to spare freshwater for communities and ag. Yet tensions simmer: HB 207's push to discharge oilfield produced water for irrigation and industry drew veto threats from environmentalists over toxicity risks to crops and aquifers. With acequias and small farmers often sidelined by costs, these measures prioritize equitable access amid projections of deepening shortages.