The U.S. Department of Agriculture is trying to get a more accurate count of the number of Indian farmers in New Mexico.

The current count of farms in the state is about 15,000. Of that amount, 430 have been identified as Indian-operated.

Edmund Gomez, the director of New Mexico State University's Rural Agricultural Improvement and Public Affairs Project, says there are at least 2,500 Indian farmers. He is part of an effort to ensure a better count.

To qualify as a farmer, a person must have crops or livestock that could produce $1,000 in income in a year.

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Census to Count Indian Farms (The Albuquerque Journal 4/29)