Eduardo (Lalo) Medina is a Program Coordinator with the Cooperative Extension Service in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business at New Mexico State University.
He holds a Masters of Agriculture in Agriculture Business degree. His areas of expertise are in agriculture economics, animal & range science, range livestock production and management; national and international community/economic/business development; community needs assessments; product marketing and technology adoption.
He is responsible for building relationships with farmers and ranchers as part of the NMSU Cooperative Extension Research and Outreach Assistance Network Team. Activities included in relationship building range from result and method demonstrations, small focus group discussions, office calls, correspondence, to farm/ranch home visits. He assesses the needs and develops a systems approach that will address current farm/ranch needs. He identifies and facilitates the linking of resources within the NMSU system, USDA and with other outside organizations related to supporting and educating of SMFR agriculture and local food systems. He also develops bilingual outreach materials in order to communicate information about small farms and urban agriculture.
Eduardo Medina also play a leadership role in the bi-national Extension initiative REINU, “Red de Extención e Innovación Nacional Universitaria”. This initiative provides training for the REINU program in which NMSU CES is training extension agents and 4S agents in Mexican universities in order for them to develop an extension model similar to our land-grant system.
Additional responsibilities for Medina include the USDA Agricultural Mediation Program (NMAMP). As the designated USDA Agricultural Mediation Officer for New Mexico and part of the Arizona Forest Service, he mediates agricultural disputes between farmers/ranchers and USDA throughout the State of New Mexico. The program is administered by the Cooperative Extension Service at New Mexico State University and has been certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He provides a voluntary alternative to litigation, arbitration, or formal appeals through the use of impartial third party mediation. He also provides all parties the opportunity to express their views and provide input toward the solution.
