COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE: Twenty Colorado ag businesses join Agricultural Workforce Development Program

Colorado Department of Agriculture issued the following announcement on June 17.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) is pleased to announce the first businesses chosen for the new Agricultural Workforce Development Program, which provides financial incentives to agricultural businesses, including farms and ranches, to hire paid interns.

“This program invests in the future of Colorado’s agriculture and will help create a pathway for the next generation of farmers, ranchers, and ag leaders to access educational work opportunities in a real business setting,” said Kate Greenberg, Commissioner of Agriculture.

Business applications were reviewed and scored by a group of industry stakeholders including a vegetable grower, a human resources professional and representatives from Colorado Farm Bureau, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and Young Farmers Coalition. The application pool was extremely competitive, diverse and represented producers from across the state.

The Colorado agricultural businesses awarded internship incentives for use between April 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020 are:

Altitude Mesa Hops Farms - Delta

Badger Creek Ranch - Canon City

Community Table Farm - Longmont

CSU Western Colorado Research Center - Grand Junction

Father Earth Organic Farm LLC - Lafayette

FLC-Old Fort at Hesperus - Durango

Green Valley Turf - Platteville

Gunnison Gardens - Gunnison

High Pine Produce - Durango

Hobbs and Meyer - Arkansas Valley

Indian Ridge Farm - Norwood

North Field Farm - Lafayette

Ollin Farms - Longmont

Raisin' Roots Farm - Fort Collins

Ring-a-Ding Farms - Salida

Rio Grande Farm Park - Alamosa

Round River Resource Management - Rush

San Juan Land & Livestock - Saguache

Sprout City Farms - Denver

Tierra Vida Farm - Durango

Internship opportunities include work with Community Supported Agriculture operations, regenerative ranching, livestock production and tree fruit, grape, and vegetable production research.

“As a new farm operation, having my first intern has allowed me to expand my farm and to learn about my own leadership capabilities,” said Andrew Nowak with Community Table Farm in Longmont. “Without this new help, my business would still be in its beginning stage.”

For more information, visit www.colorado.gov/agmain or contact Glenda Mostek at glenda.mostek@state.co.us or 303-869-9173.

Original source can be found here.