News from rural America.

The expired farm bill leaves many popular programs in limbo, a complicated fight is brewing over four-day school weeks in New Mexico, while volunteers help preserve the state's 300-year old Pecos Mission Church.

TRANSCRIPT

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, this is the news from rural America.

Farm bill reauthorization used to be as predictable as spring planting, but since 2018, a comprehensive rewrite has been delayed by increased partisanship and budgetary battles.

Michael Happ is with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

We might be living in a post-farm bill world right now.

HAP says some farmers have lost their export markets because of tariffs, making domestic markets much more essential.

At the same time, key programs that help them sell directly to local schools and consumers were cut in the GOP's 2025 tax and budget mega bill.

These programs are supposed to help farmers connect to those local markets and local purchasers.

And now is not the time to be cutting those and letting them shut off for however long.

The bill also cut $20 billion from SNAP.

The food assistance program that puts food on the table for one in seven rural households.

Those are really popular programs that make sense to a lot of farmers that use them.

But it's been caught up in this whole dragnet.

A proposed return to the five day school week in New Mexico worries rural educators.

Anya Slepian explains.

Nearly half of the state's school districts are on a four day week with longer hours.

But the governor wants a return to five days.

In rural Taos County, Cuesta Independent School Board member Michael Cordova The four-day schedule has community support because it saves money and makes logistics easier.

It's nice to have these ideas, but a lot of times they're pushed through, but they don't realize the repercussions on the local district, especially small districts who don't see a lot of money coming in.

New Mexico requires students attend classes a certain number of hours per year, but Stan Rounds with the State Superintendents Association believes each district should decide how those hours are allocated.

Every district is slightly different than every other district, and that's okay.

That's straight. leave in the local autonomy as much as is possible.

Research on student performance with a four-day week is inconclusive.

I'm Anya Slepyan.

In northern New Mexico, indigenous pueblos, National Park staff and volunteers are working to preserve a 300-year-old adobe church.

The Pecos Mission has no roof and only three walls.

Park employees maintain it and nearby stone structures led by Mason Tyler Walters.

They'll be exposed to the elements will eventually just melt into the ground.

That's what's at risk.

The church is part of the Pecos National Historic Park, where visitors can see the remnants of a Pueblo once home to 2000 people.

Volunteer Keith Westerberg says in spite of its condition, it's alive with cultural and spiritual significance.

This is still the heart of the Pecos people that now live in the village of Jemez.

It is not a ruin.

It's not an abandoned property. it is still vibrant and living.

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, I'm Roz Brown.

For more rural stories, visit dailyyonder.com.