Your right hydro does finish faster, and is possible to produce higher yeild and from what I hear even a higher potency.
But most cannabis cup winners if not all (other than the old hydro cups) are soil grown, not outdoor but indoor. And to the novice Soil is relativly easy to manage, but to some hydro is quickly picked up and easy as well.
Their is nothing better than outdoor though no light made can mimic the sun, but with the NM program outdoor is mostly out of the question.
The price of green houses alone are far more than a indoor grow, and for despencery resons hydro would be a good resone to go but all strickly hydro is also not good. In soil taste is know to improve greatly and the levels of potency dont go up that much in comparison to hydro. I would think both would be used; hydro for Lab Control and testing, and Soil for those certin phonotypes, that you want to offer to the public.

Ill tell you when you see a plant in the ground after a thunder storm, their is no denieing, the power of nature. Some of the best Cannabis was made naturaly in environment like NM, (mostly Northern NM but theri are places as far south as ABQ where the temp in summer never goes above 78-80 F.) such as Northern Lights, and many other Indicas. As far as the Desert part of NM I think hemp might do well but anything with THC probly not so well