Image: Volunteer at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center’s Entrepreneur Complex assisting in organizing food bags.
FreshRx is the NMFMA’s produce prescription program that provides incentives for select health clinic patients to complement their current medical care by providing nutritious, New Mexico grown produce at no charge. In October last year, the NMFMA was notified by the USDA that its FreshRx program was selected to receive an additional three years of funding.
Launched in 2014 in Española through a partnership with El Centro Family Health and Wholesome Wave Foundation, FreshRx and other produce prescription programs across the country have consistently shown that incorporating fresh foods into our lives can help manage diet-related illnesses. Starting in 2026, FreshRx will be partnering with three federally qualified health centers and three New Mexico tribes to place fresh, local produce into the hands of families that need it. Community health workers and diabetes educators will assist with identifying patients who will then receive pre-packaged bags of seasonal fresh produce for 12 weeks during the growing season. The program sources food from local and Native American farmers ensuring local farmers have a secure income and the ability to continue cultivating nutritious, healthy food to heal their communities.
Patients who participate in the program will have access to recipes, cooking demos, and classes on managing diet-related illnesses such as diabetes. There will be opportunities for patients to visit some of the farms where the produce is grown. Plus, through a partnership with The Center for Southwest Culture, interested patients will receive garden grow kits to start growing produce in their own yard or containers along with guidance on planting, harvesting, and preserving. The goal is to assist patients with a holistic understanding of the food we eat, how to make that food taste good, and how the foods we eat can help or harm our bodies.
Participating health clinics: El Centro Family Health, Presbyterian Community Health (Lincoln County/Dulce) and Hidalgo Medical Services (Silver City/Lordsburg)
Participating tribes: Taos Pueblo, Canoncito Band of Navajos, (Tohajiilee), Mescalero Apache (through Presbyterian).
Participating farms: Black Mesa Farm, Desert Spoon Food Hub, Frontier Food Hub, and more TBD.
Images: FreshRx cooking demo and farm tour at Reunity Resources in partnership with Cooking with Kids last September.
