Lisa Young: Penelope Powell, Executive Director, Valley Food Partnership. Thank you for joining KVNF Farm Friday.
Penelope Powell: Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Young: I understand that Valley Food Partnership is the outreach and technical assistance provider for the region on a Colorado Department of Agriculture tax credit opportunity for small food retailers and farmers that expand access to healthy foods in low income and low access areas. What can you share with our listeners?
Powell: In the spring of 2022, Colorado legislators passed House Bill 1380, and that created the Community Food Access Program within the Colorado Department of Agriculture. The mandate is to improve access to and lower prices for healthy foods in low income and underserved areas of the state. So what we are doing as the outreach and technical assistance providers, and we do have a number of subcontractors supporting us in this. We're serving Mesa, Delta and Montrose Counties as we are making sure that those small food retailers and Colorado owned and operated farms are one aware of this tax credit opportunity and two, they have the assistance they may need in applying for that tax credit to really be impactful and move the needle on making healthy foods available
We need to be accessing small food retailers, corner stores, karnataka's bodegas, as well as farmers that are ensuring that folks that may not have access to your larger grocery stores and therefore maybe not fresh fruits and vegetables, that they have the ability to access the tax credit. And there's also a consortium available which members of the consortium have special benefits. They can get a tax credit on delivery fees and also exclusive benefits from food hubs.
So our region's food hub that are signed on for that as Farm Runners, they will get a significant discount on Colorado grown products as well.
Young: That sounds like a great program. Who are you trying to reach out to? Who's your target audience?
Powell: A lot of the folks that we're trying to get to with this tax credit and consortium are not typically applying to these types of programs. And any time that, you know, you're filling out narrative about how you are helping access low income, low access areas and certain providing food may not be intuitive for these store owners or farmers. And even how to comply once they receive that tax credit can be quite arduous and it's just not intuitive. And so I commend the Department of Agriculture on ensuring this outreach and technical assistance providers are there to support the successful implementation of this program.
Young: For those who are interested, do they just reach out to Valley Food Partnership and how do they do that?
Powell: So Jeanette Oslund is our program manager who's implementing this program. So folks can call 970-249-0705 or email at Jeanette at Valley Food Partnership and we'll either help folks directly or connect them with a subcontractor in their area to get the assistance they need.
Young: Let's talk a little bit about some updates on your beginning Farmer program for 2025.
Powell: Yeah. So for the past three years, Valley Food Partnership has graduated about 65, beginning farmers and ranchers for them are cultivating farmers and ranchers that thrive program and we're excited to continue that work this year, but with a slight evolution. So we're partnering more closely with Colorado State University, and they will be providing the virtual kind of classroom training on the business and economic sides of farming and ranching.
Then Valley Food Partnership is going to come in and provide in-person community of practice where folks have the opportunity to gather with beginning farmers and ranchers in a similar stage of development and enrich their understanding of what they're learning through that peer network. That also will entail presentations from local agricultural service providers and resources, as well as a continued gathering with experienced farmers and ranchers to provide mentorship, where we're kind of working on reducing isolationism, normalizing challenges, brainstorming, and then just overall a chance to get off the farm and socialize with other farmers and ranchers.
Young: Not only are you doing that, but you also still have the winter farmers market that a lot of folks may not be aware of. Let's talk a little bit about that.
Powell: Yeah, we're excited. We're one of the few year round farmers market in the region. We're open the first three Saturdays of December and then every other week starting January 4th, 10 am to 1pm on Centennial Plaza. There's still lots of we've got lots of greens, root vegetables, winter squashes, even some apples are still around and of course, you have your local meats and eggs, artisans and baked goods, as well as smaller than the summer market. But you can still find a lot of good local goods.
Young: Is there anything else that you'd like to add to today's conversation?
Powell: We have the Western Colorado Soil Health, Food and Farm Forum coming up at the end of January. Tickets are selling fast, so make sure to hop on the website and purchase those tickets. There's virtual ticket options as well. If fees are a barrier. We have scholarships available as well.
