| 5/28/2010 9:47:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Sen. Gail Schwartz and Dave Potts attended a roundtable discussion about farmland preservation and local food production Thursday at the Salida SteamPlant. Assistant director of agriculture Bob Miller was a guest speaker with Schwartz. |
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Sen. Schwartz attends agriculture roundtable
Audrey Gilpin - Mail Staff Writer
Sen. Gail Schwartz and assistant director of agriculture Bob Miller attended a roundtable discussion about farmland preservation, the land-link initiative and local food economy Thursday at the Salida SteamPlant.
Guidestone personnel hosted the public dialogue session.
Schwartz told The Mountain Mail the event was an opportunity for her to listen to small producers and take issues to the state level to better serve rural communities.
She said she was interested in learning if current rules and regulations are benefiting rural farmers.
"This was fertile ground for conversation," Schwartz said.
Organizations and local officials who attended included LiveWell Chaffee County, Guidestone, Chaffee County Commissioner Frank Holman, county development director Don Reimer, Salida Mayor Chuck Rose, Land Trust of the Upper Arkansas Executive Director Andrew Mackie and Bill Gardiner, district conservationist of the Natural Resource Conservation Services.
Schwartz said cost of fuel is built into the cost of food. She noted transportation and the economy are hardships small producers face.
Making communities more self-sufficient in regards to food production is of importance, she said.
Using state renewable resources including biofuels and natural gas could drive the cost of fuel for food transportation and production down, Schwartz explained.
Anne Oliver, Guidestone board member, said presenting a forum provides local organization members an opportunity to learn from each other and to gain "commonality."
Guidestone organized a survey asking several organizations to describe barriers they've encountered while pursuing local food economy and farm and ranch land preservation.
The survey asked organizations to describe policy changes or financial strategies city, county and state governments might enact or support to alleviate barriers.
Organizations participating in the survey were LiveWell Chaffee County, Cottonwood Dairy, Salida Transition, Weathervane, ECO Organics, Salida Grown, Simple Foods and Colorado Local Market.
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