About the Project
Oral histories from the Middle Rio Grande farming community.
UNM Food Systems Collaborative · Community Partners · Middle Rio Grande
This project collects personal histories of farming in New Mexico to preserve place-based knowledge, document the expertise of experienced growers, and connect students with their local foodshed and community.
Origins
The project emerged from conversations among the UNM Food Systems Collaborative and community members involved in food systems work during a Spring 2025 workshop. Casey Holland first articulated the idea, and we continued to develop it collaboratively with our partners at the American Friends Service Committee - New Mexico and Chispas Farm.
Community Goals
The project aims to capture place-based knowledge that supports resilience in our local food system, document the knowledge of experienced farmers, and share that knowledge with others in exhibits, presentations, and materials most relevant to the farming community.
Student Learning
Students interview experienced growers, archive the recordings, and build interpretive profiles that invite readers into the lived history of farming in central New Mexico. The project provides meaningful opportunities to learn about the local community and foodshed, and to practice community-engaged research methods.
Timeline
- February 2025. At the UNM Food Systems Summit, Casey Holland and other practitioners identified storytelling as a key way that farmers learn from each other and build resilience to the challenges of farming. Casey suggested that UNM researchers and students could take an active role in collecting, archiving, and sharing these stories.
- February to August 2025. Associate Professor Marygold Walsh-Dilley began developing a community-engaged project that students could undertake in her classes. The project network expanded to include Sayrah Namaste from AFSC-NM and UNM faculty Jessica Rowland and Tomek Falkowski.
- August to December 2025. Students in GEOG 589 Qualitative Methods worked with community partners to design the study and collect the first round of oral histories, ultimately recording and transcribing 11 interviews with farmers in the region.
- January to May 2026. The project team established the Oral Histories of Farming archive in the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico Libraries. Students in SUST 425 and UHON 301 used the oral histories to create farmer profiles highlighting local food heroes.
- Fall 2026. A second round of oral history collection is planned in GEOG 589: Qualitative Methods.
- Spring 2026. A second round of archiving and profile generation is planned in SUST 425.
We hope to continue collecting oral histories and preparing materials for public use for years to come.
Method
Interviews use oral history techniques that encourage narrators to share personal stories, reflect on what motivates their farming work, and describe how they have adapted over time. The oral histories are recorded, transcribed, and archived at the UNM Digital Repository, attributed by name, because these stories belong to individual expertise and deserve acknowledgment.
Team Members
Dr. Marygold Walsh-Dilley
University of New Mexico
Associate Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
Casey Holland
Bernalillo County - Grow the Growers
Jacqueline Kelley-Cogdell
University of New Mexico
MS Graduate Student, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
Jessica Rowland
University of New Mexico
Senior Lecturer II and Associate Director, Sustainability Studies Program
