Value-Added Agriculture

A rich farming and ranching history, combined with its unique multicultural heritage, makes the New Mexico Borderplex a great place for new food processing businesses. Our chief agricultural products are dairy, beef, onions, pecans, and chile peppers. As Hispanic foods enter the mainstream (blue corn chips, salsas, and wrap sandwiches), there’s a growing market for the regional agricultural products and foods. Abundant opportunities exist for industries that support agricultural production and/or add value through packaging or processing.

Borderplex Agriculture Advantages

Click here to download the Borderplex Agriculture Advantages Brochure (PDF)

Long growing seasons and mild winters allow crops to be produced year round. This has made the region an ideal home for over 2,100 farms on 659,000 acres. Doña Ana County is the most diverse agricultural area in the state and is one of the top producers in the U.S. for pecans and chile, and is 2nd in the state for vegetable production.

Las Cruces is the home to the New Mexico State Department of Agriculture and the New Mexico State University (NMSU) Ag Science Centers. NMSU agricultural scientists team up with local industry to solve environmental & ecological issues as well as production issues such as yields and profits. The NMSU College of Engineering houses the Manufacturing Technology and Engineering Center (M-TEC) that provides free services to local companies with economic development potential.

Ernst & Young recently ranked New Mexico “Best in the West for Manufacturing” and combined with the great location and weather for a variety of agricultural products, Southern New Mexico also enjoys one of the lowest property tax rates in the U.S., no inventory tax and a number of tax incentives for food processing and agri-businesses.

A few of the major employers in the food industry include: Olam Americas, Stahmann Farms, F&A Dairy Products, Franco Whole Foods, Sterigenics, Green Valley Pecans, Valley Cold Storage, Cervantes Enterprises, Biad Chile, and over a dozen wineries.

Is the Borderplex the Right Space for your agriculture-based business? Call us today and we’ll help you answer that question.