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Farmers Look for Room

Posted on: Friday, 28 October 2005, 00:00 CDT

By Kelly Davidson, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.

Oct. 28--When Anne and Paul Cure decided to open their organic farm last year, they hoped to acquire land through the leasing program administered by the Agricultural Resources Division of the Boulder County Parks and Open Space department.

The couple, though, was disappointed to learn the program only leased farmland measuring more than 40 acres. Frustrated by limited land access, they considered leaving the county to find more suitable, affordable land.

In the end, they leased acreage in Boulder from a private owner and opened Cure Organic Farm in February.

But they almost took their farm elsewhere. And discussions are underway in the county about a way to modify the leasing program to avoid losing small farms in the future.

"People are moving out of the county because they can't find the smaller parcels of land or afford to buy private land," Anne Cure said. "The land is just not accessible to small farmers."

The Cures' situation is one of several that prompted Parks and Open Space to reevaluate the situation.

Local farmers first expressed the need for smaller parcels during recent meetings of the Boulder County Food and Agriculture Policy Council.

Earlier this month, the Small Farm Committee, with eight small farm operators in the area included, was formed to explore leasing options. The committee will provide Parks and Open Space with the input to develop an additional leasing model that can accommodate farm operations in need of less than 40 acres.

Under current guidelines, the department leases 13,000 acres of irrigated farmland to farmers through a bidding process. The leases stipulate the county must approve any subleases for acres of the land.

The department is considering a new leasing model where several farmers can join a growers' association to lease 40 or more acres together.

This model would open the leasing program to small farmers and minimize the county's administrative burden while working with the county's existing 40-acre parcels, said Adrian Card, who works with the parks department and the food council to coordinate the Small Farm Committee.

Under the proposed model, the growers' association would assume the responsibility of dividing the land and administering the logistics of sharing irrigation water, field access and other resources.

"We would be leasing to one entity. We don't want to micromanage the parcels," said Luke Stromquist with the agricultural resources division.

To survey demand for smaller parcels and discuss the growers' association model, the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension will host a public meeting Thursday in the Natural Resources Building on the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont.

During the meeting, the Small Farm Committee will seek input from current or prospective farmers who are interested in smaller parcels, ranging from three to 20 acres.

"I want to see more small farms," said Anne Cure, who plans to attend. "If we make our land more accessible, more farmers will come and our farm markets will grow."

For Wyatt Barnes, co-owner of Red Wagon Organic Farm in Boulder, the decision to participate on the committee came easy. He and his business partner currently lease 10 acres of land from a private owner, but only use seven of those acres most of the time.

"We'll fill the extra acres with pumpkins in the fall, but we don't really need them," he said. "We make it work, but small farmers need more land options."

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Copyright (c) 2005, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.

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Source: Daily Camera

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