Planting Seeds of Traditional Agriculture for Future Generations
Miguel Santistevan and young farmers

Excerpt from Program:
"The New Mexico Acequia Association has initiated a project that mentors youth from the communities of Taos, Mora, Peñasco, and Embudo. The ultimate goals of the project are to mentor youth in agriculture, to document traditional knowledge, and cultivate relationships across the region. Mentors in each area demonstrate and facilitate a hands-on experience for the youth in agricultural and ranching activities at key points in the seasonal agricultural cycle. The youth also document their experience by taking pictures, video, and recording interviews of the mentors and each other about their experience. The media is then produced into digital storytelling pieces and other forms of presentation to allow the youth to express what they learned and what is important to them. A radio show, "¡Que Vivan las Acequias! " is produced monthly around the Sembrando Semillas project and can be downloaded at www.culturalenergy.org. Other benefits of the project have included youth developing their confidence in agricultural practice and public speaking, their experience in media technology and production, and their introduction to acequia governance and the policy making process.

"Miguel Santistevan is from Taos, New Mexico and works as the Sembrando Semillas (Sowing Seeds) Youth Project director for The New Mexico Acequia Association. The Project was created to mentor youth in the practice and documentation of traditional agriculture and ranching in Taos, Mora, Peñasco, and Embudo watersheds. He has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of New Mexico and a Master of Science in Agriculture Ecology from the University of California, Davis."