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New Mexico is one of five U.S. states that frequently encounters exceptional drought that can damage crops but one farmer is doing her part to reduce food wasted due to extreme weather events.

Rachael Ryan, owner and CEO of Backyard Farms, said in addition to growing food, she has learned how to freeze-dry less-than-perfect raw produce, much of it purchased from other farmers. Ryan then retails packets of apples, pears and even green chilies.

She pointed out peach growers and others have needed her help in recent years to mitigate crop losses.

"They contact us when they're in a bad situation, when they're at a loss of their entire crop," Ryan explained. "That's when they contact me. We're that safety net when you've lost everything and you're going to go into the red."

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After demonstrating success in freeze-drying fruits and vegetables, Ryan's Backyard Farms qualified for a grant to grow the business from the initially skeptical U.S. Department of Agriculture. While most of her products are sold or donated locally, ultimately Ryan also would like to market them to FEMA, the Red Cross and other relief groups.

Ryan noted New Mexico farmers, like many others, often must discard crops because grocery stores will not buy fruits or veggies with imperfections in shape, size, color or appearance. That's where her Las Cruces team takes over by hand-washing, slicing, freeze-drying and packaging the items, putting perfectly good produce back into the food system. She added demand is exceeding her workspace.

"This last year I actually had to turn away farmers because we just did not have the capability to process all the food," Ryan stressed. "We've actually gotten a very large grant, about a half-million dollars from the State of New Mexico, to expand our processing center."

Freeze-drying produce is known to create a shelf-stable product that can be stored for up to 25 years without spoilage. It was first discovered by the Incas, refined during World War II to preserve medicine and later perfected by NASA to feed astronauts aboard spaceflights to the moon. But it has not gone mainstream in the ag community.

A common refrain Ryan hears from people who learn about her business is, "What a great idea! How come nobody thought of this before?"

"We are the only one of our kind in the entire United States," Ryan added. "Everybody has been coming to me to learn about what we're doing and everybody wants to mimic us."