Colorado Farmers Markets Meeting

The Colorado Farmers Market Association’s annual conference takes place on Friday, March 5, and includes a keynote address by Catt Fields White, Director of San Diego Markets and Founder and CEO of Farmers Market Pros. The conference will also cover legislative updates, traditional food production and marketing, marketing tips for farmers’ markets and how to use markets as business incubators. More information on CoFarmersMarkets.org.

Webinar to cover the role of land trusts in water conservation

Water Education Colorado is hosting a webinar on land and water conservation on Tuesday March 9 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. in the San Luis Valley; and the work of the Palmer Land Conservancy to combat the effects of buying and drying by keeping water on the most productive farmlands east of Pueblo along the Bessemer Ditch. How do these projects work? How are land trusts positioned to play an important role in water management? Explore these questions and more by visiting WaterEducationColorado.org.

CSU presents a new food systems mapping tool

Working with community partners, the Food Systems team at Colorado State University has created an interactive Colorado Food Systems Mapping and Reporting Tool that aggregates relevant food system indicators and makes them available to anyone. stakeholders. Positive responses to this project led to an expansion of offerings and a toolkit to include data and indicators that were important during the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to indicators important for community development. As part of the regular webinar series, CSU is hosting a program information webinar on March 10 from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. with Rebecca Hill from CSU’s Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics, and Robin Young, director of extension in Archuleta County.

Webinar to cover on-farm disinfection

The Produce Safety Collaborative of Colorado will host a webinar on “Demystifying Cleaning and Sanitation for Farms” on March 10 from 4 pm to 5 pm. Get information on how to properly conduct critical cleaning practices on the farm. The food safety website can be found at FreshProduce.ColoState.edu.

Topic of the next webinar on the meat processing sector

A webinar on “New Opportunities and Collaborations for the Colorado Meat Processing Industry” is coming March 11 from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm. PJ Howe, USDA Rural Development Loan Specialist; Jennifer Martin, assistant professor of animal science at CSU; and Steve Blunt, program administrator at the Colorado Department of Agriculture. A link to the webinar is available on the CSU Food Systems website.

Legislation on market transparency welcomed

Several groups support the recent Cattle Market Transparency Act of 2021, sponsored by Sens. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) And Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) American Farm Bureau Federation said the bill would help increase transparency in American cattle. markets by ensuring a strong regionally negotiated cash trade and providing producers with more price information. The association’s livestock market task force, made up of 10 State Farm Bureau presidents, spent more than two months investigating the factors that led to the market disruption following the fire in the Holcomb packaging plant and the COVID-19 pandemic before supporting the proposal. The US Cattlemen’s Association also expressed support for the legislation, as well as the Strengthening Local Processing Act, which was introduced to the House by Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from Maine, and Jeff Fortenberry, a Republican from Nebraska.

Corn leadership and education offered

The National Corn Growers have developed a new advocacy training program as part of their Local Action Plan presented last year with the aim of strengthening their political reach and local capacity. The program will be called ACE (Advocating for Corn Effectively). The virtual program will take place on three consecutive Friday mornings: March 12, March 19 and March 26. The target audience are producer leaders who can help steer their respective states towards a stronger advocacy culture. By the end of the series, participants should have a solid understanding of the grassroots role in policymaking and feel comfortable participating in meetings on Capitol Hill and with state legislators. Also in the corn world, the Colorado Corn Administrative Committee will also host its Spring Forum in the afternoon of March 24, with a panel discussion, information from researchers and a presentation on corn marketing.

Culver competition funds the FFA

Since the creation of the Thank You Farmers Project in 2013, Culver’s has raised $ 3 million to support agricultural education. One of the many ways Culver’s supports the FFA is the annual FFA Essay Contest, which just launched on February 22 for its seventh year. As in previous years, three winners will be chosen to receive funds for their FFA chapters for a total of $ 7,500, $ 5,000 and $ 2,500. Because the pandemic has made it very difficult for FFA Chapters to host their own fundraisers, the cash prize will help winning Chapters pursue educational projects and initiatives that otherwise might not have been funded. The competition is a chance for students to demonstrate their passion for agricultural education. New this year, students will also be able to submit videos for the competition.

Federal agency accepting value-added applications

The USDA Rural Development Program accepts applications for grants to help agricultural producers develop and market new products. Approximately $ 33 million in grants are available under the Value-Added Producer Grants program. Paper or e-mailed applications should be sent by March 22. Last fall, six such grants were awarded in Colorado,

including one that went to Flying Diamond Ranch in Kit Carson, to be used to develop private label beef products, and another attributed to Hobbs and Meyers Farms in Avondale, which will be used to produce and market cookies and porridge made from heritage cereals grown on the farm.

Tax support to finance mixed water conservation

A majority of Colorado voters believe the state should spend more money to protect and conserve its water resources, Fresh Water News reports, but they are unwilling to support new state taxes to fund the work , according to a series of bipartisan polls conducted over the past 18 months. “About 55% of voters said the state should spend more money,” said Lori Weigel, pollster and director of New Bridge Strategy. While the poll showed some support for potential tools like a new state-wide tourism tax or a bottle tax, that support quickly eroded when likely voters were turned down. when asked about a new state-wide tax, 39% of likely voters said they were skeptical about the possibility of the state being trusted to spend the money wisely.