We Extend a Warm Welcome to the
Institute’s Board of Directors

The Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute elected two new Board Members at its bi-monthly meeting in February. Board Chair Michael Knight said, “It is with great pleasure that I welcome Chris Castro and Robert Jones to the Board of Directors of the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute. Not only are they devoted to locally-produced farm-fresh produce, but Chris’ extensive experience in communications and Robert’s professional accomplishments in advocacy add considerable talent in critical areas of the organization’s work.”
Chris Castro pictured with Bernice, one of her pack of three Akitas.
Christine Castro has more than 25 years of experience leading communications and public relations functions for global brands in the entertainment, technology and biotech sectors. She has served as Vice President, Communications for The Walt Disney Company; Chief Communications Officer for Yahoo Inc.; Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs for Genentech; and Senior Vice President, Communications, for CBS Corp.

Upon moving to Santa Fe in 2016, Chris founded Atalaya Media LLC, focusing on external communications strategies for early-stage technology and health science companies. Read more
Robert W. Jones J.D. is a native of Texas, but has spent more and more time in Santa Fe over the last 10 years and now calls The Land of Enchantment home for a big portion of the year.

Robert has spent his professional career mostly in the area of corporate public affairs while working in New Mexico, Texas, New York and Washington, DC. Robert currently is a Managing Director at Mercury, a leading global bipartisan public strategy firm. Robert represents clients at the federal, state and local levels across the US. Robert is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Finance and holds a Juris Doctor from The University of Houston School of Law.
Robert W. Jones and Marsha Jones pictured at the Institute’s Seed The Future celebration in December 2022.
Celebrating Female Farmers and Producers During Women’s History Month
Gayle Ice has been farming on her certified organic and acequia-irrigated farm for over 30 years. Named a Farmer All Star in 2012, Ice’s Organic Farm has been represented at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market since 1994.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) website states: “Women have been a critical part of farm and ranch operations across the country — and around the globe — for centuries. From the classroom to the farm to the boardroom, women in agriculture are helping to pave the way for a better future. As leaders, it is our responsibility to make sure the next generation of women are educated, encouraged and empowered to take on the challenges of meeting the world's growing food, fuel and fiber needs.” 
In the most recent census of agriculture completed in 2017 the USDA concluded:
  • More than one third, 36%, of all U.S. producers are female but only 9% of all US farms are run entirely by women.
  • 14% of US farms have female principal operators.
  • Despite these numbers, women farmers control only 7% of US farmland and account for 3% of sales.
  • The highest proportion of these female operated farms are located in the Northeast and West.
  • In New Mexico, there are 16,577 female producers operating on 18,108,297 acres of land.
  • Of these, 12,047 (73%) are the principal producers on their operations. [1]
The USDA website states: “Women have been a critical part of farm and ranch operations across the country — and around the globe — for centuries. From the classroom to the farm to the boardroom, women in agriculture are helping to pave the way for a better future. As leaders, it is our responsibility to make sure the next generation of women are educated, encouraged and empowered to take on the challenges of meeting the world's growing food, fuel and fiber needs.” 

SFFMI Board Member Gail Wadsworth reported, women farmers face gender discrimination when accessing federal programs and in other ways. In October of 2001, nine women filed suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for discrimination against women farmers in the administration of USDA farm loans. The USDA has attempted to address the previous discrimination against women farmers and is working to resolve claims. But women still face an "uphill battle in asserting themselves as farmers; particularly if they are living and working in communities in which masculinity and femininity have been shaped over time by the gendered symbolic categories of farmer and farm wife." (Journal of Rural Social Sciences, Keller, Julie C. Vol 29. No.1, January 1, 2014) 

“I believe that women’s biggest challenge in the Ag industry is that we are being seen as less educated and less capable,” said Holly Nequette, an agricultural business student at Colorado State University. “Women are viewed as inferior to men in the industry, which is why they tend to only have desk jobs.”
The composition of the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market betters the results of the national survey where more than half of the vendors represented are women. At the Institute, we are working to address the lack of access to credit. Working in partnership with Guadalupe Credit Union, the Institute’s Microloan Program facilitates low interest loans for farmers who might have difficulty in accessing credit otherwise. Over the past few years 50% of farmers who took part in the program were women.
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[1] https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Highlights/2014/Highlights_Women_Farmers.pdf
Raising Up Cloud Cliff Bakery
Rosa Lemus has been a fixture in the Santa Fe baking constellation for over 25 years. Working both as the baker for Santa Café for twenty-five years, and simultaneously working for Willem Malten at Cloud Cliff Bakery for a baker’s dozen. Last year she focused fully on Cloud Cliff and became the popular Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Vendor’s owner, when Willem retired after more than 30 years. This month marks her one year anniversary as the proprietor of Cloud Cliff Bakery – congratulations Rosa!

Originally from El Salvador, Rosa came to the United States when she was 18 years old. She found her niche here in Santa Fe where she sells her baked goods exclusively to customers at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Markets. You can find her and her small, devoted team at the Saturday and Tuesday Railyard Markets. She is also a loyal vendor at the Del Sur Market, helping to diversifying the offerings on Tuesday afternoons all summer long. (The Del Sur Market is held in the Presbyterian Medical Center Parking Lot at 4801 Beckner Road every Tuesday from 3pm-6pm, July 5th through September 27th, 2022.) She says that adding the afternoon Market makes for a long day, but she finds the customers on the Southside “happy with her fresh bread. We try to make it like homemade; we never use preservatives and only bake with unbleached flour.”

With her partner Carlos, Rosa continues Willem’s legacy by baking many of his unique bread varieties such as Purple Walnut, while introducing Sourdough Boules and Cranberry Pecan. She also mixes in seasonal specialties: Hot Cross Buns for Easter and Stollen for Christmas. Cloud Cliff Bakery has a regular customer base, and usually sells out. Of her biggest seller, Nativo, one weekly Railyard customer said: “Nativo Bread is a hearty peasant bread that’s just right with a bowl of winter stew. Yum!”

Rosa sources as many ingredients as possible from her fellow vendors at the Market often bartering bread for potatoes for her Potato Sesame bread, and onions for her Caramelized Onion bread. She has kindly shared her Caramelized Onion bread recipe with our readers here. When asked for tips on how to bake bread in Santa Fe’s high altitude (7,100 feet), she said that “sometimes you have to add a little more flour. And if you are baking pastry on one of Santa Fe’s rare rainy days, you may have to bake it a little longer.”

As the distinguished American Chef, James Beard, said “Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.” Check out Cloud Cliff Bakery’s booth at the Market, and feast courtesy of Rosa Lemus.

Note: Currently Mendez Produce, owned by 2021 Farmer All Star Trinidad Mendez, is the source of onions at the Saturday Railyard Market. See his video here.
Cabin Fever? Think About Summer Farm Camp for Your Kids
Six year old Jacob tries out some local produce.
Is there anything better than a homemade popsicle on a hot summer day?
Exploring their creative side: the world through children’s eyes.
Chef and food activist Alice Waters wrote that “teaching kids how to feed themselves and how to live in a community responsibly is the center of an education.” If you would like to introduce your children to the joy of farming, or simply instill an appreciation for organic, locally produced fruits and vegetables, consider enrolling your children in outdoor summer camp at Reunity Resources.

Nonprofit Reunity Resources operates a regenerative two-acre urban farm and soil and compost yard on Tewa land in Agua Fria Village, just outside Santa Fe. Vegetables, herbs, fruits, and flowers are grown on the land following regenerative and organic farming standards.  

According to Program Director Juliana Peterson Ciano, “each day begins with an opening circle and moves to hands-on activities based on what is happening in the growing season. Ample group games, free play, snacks and stories round out the day. Activities may include sowing, transplanting, harvesting, washing, eating and composting, journaling, natural dyeing, wild crafting, making pollinator hotels, fort building, clay/adobe play, mud kitchen, cooking, fermentation, weaving, fire building, tree climbing, singing, storytelling, and water games.”

Farm camp takes place in one-week units, with a total of eight weeks offered throughout the summer. Rolling admission is open now through the Reunity website. Scholarships are available for children in need of assistance. If you are interested in sponsoring children who might not have the opportunity to attend farm camp, contributions to the scholarship fund are always welcome and are tax-deductible to the extent permissible by law.
About the Institute
The Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute was founded in 2002 to raise funds for an affordable space where farmers could sell their goods year round. After the Farmers’ Market Pavilion opened in 2008, the Institute expanded its mission to include developing economic resources for farmers and growing access to healthy, locally grown food for northern New Mexicans.

We deeply appreciate your support for our efforts to connect families with local food, to provide economic services to our farmers, as well as an affordable space where farmers can sell their goods year round. Want to get to know the Institute better? We’d love to take you on a tour of the market and talk to you about the programs we provide. Just email janice@farmersmarketinstitute.org to get more information.
How You Can Help
MISSION STATEMENT
The Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute’s mission is to advocate for farmers, ranchers and other land-based producers; provide equitable access to fresh, local food; own and operate a year-round venue for the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market; and manage programs to help sustain a profitable, locally-based agricultural community.
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Volunteer
THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE SPONSORS!
 These lead sponsors help ensure the sustainability of the northern New Mexico food system as well as nurture the agricultural community and the customers that make the Santa Fe Farmers' Market so successful.
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