New CO Farm & Food Alliance film features a riparian restoration project and rural conservation leadership in action

Colorado Farm and Food Alliance is excited for our spring workshop series to bring the Regenerative Agriculture Gardens and Classroom back, in partnership with our host, Arbol Farm, just outside of Paonia.

Spring workshops topics, from cover cropping in the market garden to alley cropping, teach practices proven to help with better water retention in the soil, higher yields for farmers, and more resilience to drought, erosion and fire.

On April 5-6, we will offer up Rivershed: A Weekend of Awareness and Action for Healthy Lands and Watersheds in Paonia, Colorado.

This weekend of activities will explore themes around our river and water in the west. Through conversations, film, discussion and hands-on activities, we will touch on watershed restoration, beaver and riparian life, the risks of persistent drought and building greater system resilience, and the role of healthy lands in the security of our western river systems.

RSVP today.

With days still blustery and cherry trees just starting to bud in DC, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition members convene at the beginning of each year to strategize around national priorities. This year the Farm Bill is back at the top of the agenda. That legislation, which covers many things related to farms, food, nutrition and rural development is up for reauthorization in 2024.

Agrivoltaics are the pairing of solar energy and agriculture. Some experts think it offers solutions that can help renewables better integrate with rural livelihoods and might also provide some enhancements for farming as we head into a hotter, drier, less predictable weather future. Community-solar is another way to ensure that communities are centered in the expansion of renewable energy.

In Delta County, the Colorado Farm & Food Alliance is part of a team of local leaders bringing agrivoltaics together with community-solar in a project at Thistle Whistle Farm on Hanson Mesa, outside the town of Hotchkiss.

Pete and Lauren embark on a journey to Carbondale for a round table on local food actions and initiatives in the Roaring Fork Valley. We were excited to join the discussion since The Roaring Fork and the North Fork of the Gunnison are both headwaters to the Colorado River and working together for greater bioregional food security is exactly what we are about.

Last fall, we relocated our Learning Garden and Classroom to its new home at Arbol Farm, just outside of Paonia on Lamborn Mesa. We’ve got big plans for this space in 2024 and beyond, and we are already busy planning for our spring workshops and other activities.

In 2015, when the Colorado Farm & Food Alliance became its own Colorado-incorporated entity, our first tag-line was “Healthy Lands and Clean Water Protect Colorado’s Farms, Food and Drink.” Overtime, since food truly does touch everything, our mission grew to include not only conservation goals, but climate action, food fairness, and small farm support.

The Western Colorado Alliance held a farmer grant writing workshop in Grand Junction last month with many Western Slope farmers attending to learn the grant writing ropes from the wonderful speakers that night.

We are bringing the timberframe classroom and sharing garden back for 2024! And we need YOUR HELP. Please donate here.

Well, 2023 has been a fast-paced series of activities, events and exciting news. Check in out. 👇

The Colorado Farm and Food Alliance invites you to join us for our gourmet Farm-to-Table dinner, fast approaching on October 25.

We know the climate situation is urgent, but one key point, really the most important, that we make with our climate report The Gunnison River Basin: Ground Zero in the Climate Emergency is that with initiative the Western Slope can become a global climate leader.

On the second chilly weekend of March, hundreds of diverse Paonia citizens came together for a weekend of all things beaver. Colorado Farm and Food Alliance and the Western Slope Conservation Center came together to fill the town with a variety of activities and events for everyone that appealed to all of the senses and facets of beaver restoration.

What are Nature-Based Climate Solutions?

Rural Climate Action means regenerative agriculture, conservation, and watershed restoration: Western Colorado can be a global leader!

Nature-based Solutions are land-management practices that mimic and restore natural systems to improve habitats and watersheds, strengthen ecosystem health, and boost climate resiliency and carbon uptake.

All four 1/8th of an acre Incubator plots were claimed early Spring of 2022. Eager aspiring farmers prepared their soil, pulled weeds and tended the beds with fresh cut oat straw and aged sheep compost. In the evenings, they prepared garden and business plans, anticipating a full growing season and dreaming of potential budding businesses to share their harvests.