Santa Fe's economy runs on tourism, government, and craft industries today, and a packaging automation buyer looking for a deep food-manufacturing base here will come up short. A 2003 economic-development study commissioned by the city named seven priority industries for growth: arts and culture, design, hospitality, conservation technologies, software development, publishing and new media, and outdoor gear and apparel. Food and beverage made the list too, but only as a secondary priority alongside health care and retiree services. That matches what Santa Fe actually runs on day to day: tourism, state government, a research and technology base tied to nearby national laboratories, and a pottery and crafts industry built around the annual Indian Market that has operated since the early twentieth century.

If Santa Fe's own priority list holds and food and beverage grows from a secondary sector into a real production base, the producers who show up will still need to solve the same packaging problem every food manufacturer solves: how to fill, seal, and case product without a large manual labor line. We already build that equipment, from Mars Series VFFS bagging, our vertical form-fill-seal line, to PackMaster case packing, for New Mexico's food and beverage sector elsewhere in the state, and we're ready to bring the same lines to Santa Fe once its food and beverage plans move from a study recommendation to an actual production floor. That day hasn't arrived yet. Whichever Santa Fe producer gets there first will know their product; we'll already know how to package it.