Tesoros del Valle Farmers Market
Villanueva, Northern NM
Community farmers market serving the Pecos River Valley food desert, organized under Nuevo Mexico Fresco, a 501(c)(3) connecting Villanueva-area growers and makers with residents every Sunday and Thursday through the growing season.
About
Tesoros del Valle, which means "treasures of the valley," is a community farmers market serving the Pecos River Valley in San Miguel County, one of the most food-insecure and geographically isolated communities in northern New Mexico. The market is organized under Nuevo Mexico Fresco, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Ribera that received its tax-exempt status in 2026, and operates with support from the New Mexico Farmers' Marketing Association.
The market was founded by Jason Lee Gonzalez, a small farmer and community leader who recognized that residents of the Villanueva area faced a food desert with the nearest grocery store roughly an hour and a half away. Tesoros del Valle operates at two locations during the growing season: Sundays at the El Valle Community Center at 11 Los Pueblos Road in Villanueva, and Thursdays at the San Miguel Senior Center at 279 NM-3 in Ribera. The Sunday market runs June through October; the Thursday market runs June through late October.
The market brings together local producers growing and making a range of products including microgreens, beef, eggs, dairy, jams, herbs, flowers, seeds, plant starts, breads, and handcrafted goods. Named farming partners include Steve and Francis Montoya, and Gonzalez has articulated a vision of growing the farming community by inspiring young people to take up agriculture and increasing local food crop production in the valley.
Tesoros del Valle accepts SNAP and EBT, participates in the Double Up Food Bucks program, and accepts WIC and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program vouchers, ensuring that federal nutrition assistance dollars can flow directly to local producers. The market received a $25,000 grant from the Las Vegas NM Community Foundation's Anchorum Community Health Fund to build capacity and strengthen local food access and economic opportunity in the Pecos River Valley communities.
The El Valle Community Center, which hosts the Sunday market, also operates the El Toro Food Pantry, making the market location a hub for multiple food security programs in a community with significant unmet need.
