Agricultural lands must contain 50 percent (or more) of prime, unique, or statewide important soils or cultural resource sites in order to qualify for inclusion in FRPP. The following criteria have been developed for identifying these types of lands in New Mexico.

Prime - Prime farmland is land that has the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing food, feed, fiber, forage, oilseed, and other agricultural crops with minimum inputs of fuel, fertilizer, pesticides, and labor, and without intolerable soil erosion, as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture. Prime farmland includes land that possesses the above characteristics but is being used currently to produce livestock and timber. It does not include land already in or committed to urban development or water storage. In addition, because of New Mexico's arid climate in agricultural areas, it has been determined that no lands in New Mexico qualify as Prime Farmland unless irrigated with a dependable supply of irrigation water. Highly productive ranch lands could qualify under this criteria if irrigated, as determined by NRCS.

Unique farmland - Unique Farmland is land other than prime farmland that is used for production of specific high-value food and fiber crops, as determined by the Secretary. It has the special combination of soil quality, location, growing season, and moisture supply needed to economically produce sustained high quality or high yields of specific crops when treated and managed according to acceptable farming methods. Examples of such crops include citrus, tree nuts, olives, cranberries, fruits, and vegetables.

Statewide Important Farmland - Irrigated farmlands in New Mexico which do not meet the criteria of prime farmland but have an irrigated capability class of IV or better. These lands, too, must have a dependable supply of irrigation water to meet crop needs. Limited to farmlands currently in production. 

Locally Important Farmlands- Criteria for locally important farmland were not developed nor were any locally important farmland lists developed. Traditionally, farmlands have been considered locally important if they didn't meet the criteria for Statewide Important. These included other farmlands that are either not irrigated or have capability class greater than when IV irrigated, or both.

In order to qualify for FRPP eligibility based upon the presence of cultural resources on an agricultural property, an applicant must demonstrate the nominated parcels contain one or more sites which have been listed or determined formally eligible for listing on the Secretary of Interior's National Register of Historic Places, or listed by the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Officer or a Tribal Historic Preservation Officer on one of their respective lists of Historic Places.