Economic contributions of the beef cattle industry to New Mexico

              1 Respectively, Policy Analyst, Linebery Policy Center for Natural Resource Management; Department Head, Department of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business; and Extension Livestock Spe­cialist, Department of Extension Animal Sciences and Natural Resources, New Mexico State University.
2 Land in farms is an operating unit concept and includes land owned and operated as well as land rented from others. Land used rent-free was reported as land rented from others. All grazing land, except land used under government permits on a per-head basis, was included as ‘‘land in farms’’ provided it was part of a farm or ranch. Land under the exclusive use of a grazing association was reported by the grazing association and included as land in farms. All land in American Indian Reservations used for growing crops, grazing livestock, or with the potential of grazing livestock was included as land in farms (USDA, 2012).
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL, CONSUMER AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Linebery Policy Center for Natural Resource Management • LPC-1
Economic Contribution of the Beef Cattle Industry to New Mexico
Nicholas K. Ashcroft, Jay M. Lillywhite, and Marcy A. Ward1
New Mexico State University
aces.nmsu.edu/pubs
The College of
Agricultural,
Consumer and
Environmental
Sciences is an
engine for economic and community
development in New Mexico, improving the lives of New Mexicans through academic, research, and Extension
programs.
INTRODUCTION
Agriculture has a long and important role in New Mexico’s economy, culture, and identity. This publication provides an economic overview of New Mexico agriculture and data related to its economic contribution to the state’s econo­my. Included are basic industries identified for New Mexico and its counties, and estimated total economic contribution of all agriculture (including the beef cattle industry) and the beef cattle industry specifically.
NEW MEXICO’S AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY
New Mexico had 24,721 farms in 2012 (USDA, 2012), a 38% increase over the number of farms in 1997. However, farm acreage has decreased from 46.1 million acres (1997) to 43.2 million acres (2012).
In addition to these non-federal agricultural lands2, there are approxi­mately 23.3 million acres held by the United States Forest Service (FS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that are assumed to be available for grazing (Vincent et al., 2017). When these acres are included, the total New Mexico acreage involved in agriculture is 85.5% of the state’s area (Figure 1).