Mark LeClaire is the owner of Atrisco Truck Farm, an organic farm in the South Valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The “truck” part of the name came from his son’s love of trucks when he was younger. Mark lives in the Old Town area of Albuquerque, and the name is also an acknowledgment of the area’s history as a farming community where farmers would load their trucks with produce and gather in the old town plaza. Mark uses primarily no-till techniques and has a deep interest in seed saving and native varieties. In the audio below, Mark discusses his journey of getting started in farming.
Mark discusses the many ways he looks to nature for inspiration in his work. For example, he uses no-till or low-till techniques. He believes that tilling disturbs the soil which might initially give him a “bloom of fertility”, but when he looks at nature, he doesn’t see nature constantly disrupting the soil. He sees no-till and low-till techniques as a way to build long-term soil fertility and to preserve fungal and microbial life. He hopes no-till and low-till techniques will also decrease weed pressures since the function of “weeds” in nature is to fill in areas of disturbed soil.
Mark used to prioritize making his farm profitable, but the stress of making profit took the joy out of farming. He has scaled back his time and is now focused on producing food for the self-sufficiency of his family and community. He dedicates about 10 hours / day to farming nowadays, and he prioritizes “lazy” farming, or doing the least amount of work possible to still produce a good product. Letting go of profitability brought back his joy of farming and staved off burnout.
Outside of the challenge of burnout, Mark discusses the challenge of water availability in the Middle Rio Grande. He quickly realized in his farming journey that having access to a well is the only financially viable option. It isn’t possible to survive off the acequias because of reliability issues, and city water is really expensive.
While decentering profit made farming personally sustainable for Mark, the financial pressures of farming are a challenge. As discussed above, even accessing water has a financial component. He also talks about the rising price of land in Albuquerque, noting that land in the South Valley without water or infrastructure is selling for around a quarter of a million dollars. He calculated that he was making $4-5 / hour while farming for profit and points out how inaccessible the quarter of a million-dollar price tag is at that income level.
In the next few years, after his youngest son is finished with high school, he hopes to devote more time to farming again. He sees himself farming for the rest of his life, and he has dreams of expanding onto the vacant land around his property. Mark also has community goals. He wants to create a seed bank for Albuquerque farmers to share locally adapted seeds. He also wants to lead cooking and nutrition classes to encourage people to eat more greens and experience what he terms in the clip below as a “nutrient rush”.