Seminar 5 - Artesia and Clovis, NM

NMAL Class 16 Natural Resources and Agriculture in Southeastern New Mexico

NMAL Class 16 headed to Eastern New Mexico in April with a packed schedule of tours and meetings. Kicking off our seminar in Artesia, we had the opportunity to meet with NM Reps. Jim Townsend and Cathrynn Brown. 

Rep. Brown reviewed the budget process for the NM Legislature and both Brown and Townsend discussed how critical the Oil and Natural Gas industry is to the state. The conversation went in many directions, but I enjoyed Townsend's perspective as not only a state legislator, but as a retired oil company executive. I was most interested in the discussion around the need for new technologies and how nuclear energy might be a solution in the future. I also appreciated when Rep. Brown shared her thoughts on public service.

We also toured the Renewable Diesel Unit of HF Sinclair in Arteisa. It was fascinating to hear about how their building was constructed and learn more about how tallow, canola and used cooking oil are refined into bio-diesel. 

We then headed to Clovis for a tour of Southwest Cheese led by Eric Denton, site director. Denton, who has been with the operation for many years, provided a thorough background on the company and production facility. Southwest Cheese is jointly owned and operated by Dairy Farmers of America, Select Milk Producers and Glanbia Nutritionals, an Irish Company. Because of the global partnership that forms Southwest Cheese, they must meet safety standards for not only the United States, but for Europe as well. Southwest Cheese’s dedication to safety was visible and impressive as NMAL Class 16 suited-up for the production tour. We also got to take home some Pepper Jack cheese.

We then headed to the NMSU Agricultural Science Center in Clovis where they conduct crop, soil, and water research, and disseminate viable strategies that benefit New Mexicans.

Our final tour was of the Hampton Farms Peanut Processing Plant in Portales. The production manager Wes Weems gave us a wonderful tour and my thoughts are with him and everyone in Portales as they deal with a fire that destroyed another of their facilities just a couple of days later. 

I really enjoyed this seminar and appreciate the effort that our coordinator Tina and classmate Luther put into the planning. It was great! I also really enjoyed having alumni from previous classes join us for dinner. It was fun to hear about their NMAL experiences.


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