Say hello to Samantha Barncastle! She is one of the panelists for the “Navigating Rapid Policy Changes” session at the 2025 CRWUA Conference, December 16-18, 2025 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
Samantha (Sam) Barncastle is the Executive Director of the Family Farm Alliance. She is an attorney from New Mexico with over 17 years of experience in complex litigation and policymaking on water and natural-resources issues at both state and federal levels. She Earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Government (Pre-Law), with Honors, from New Mexico State University in 2007. Received a J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2010. She began her legal career clerking for the New Mexico Court of Appeals, followed by time at two water-law firms in Las Cruces, NM, then founded the Barncastle Law Firm in 2014, focusing on water rights, irrigation, agriculture, and related business law.
Samantha has deep roots in Western irrigated agriculture — raised on a family farm context and is the spouse of a farmer in the Mesilla Valley, New Mexico.