Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Culture, News

Colorado ranchers already had beef with Jared Polis. Then came “MeatOut Day.”

LIMON — When Kelsey Pope watches her kids doing after-school chores, scattering hay for some of the 1,200 head of Red Angus cattle on their high plains farm, a beef-bashing proclamation from a governor 70 miles away doesn’t feel like a distant nuisance.  Colorado’s official embrace of “MeatOut Day” on March 20 feels like a […]

Posted inColoradans, Education, Growth, Opinion, Opinion Columns, Politics and Government

Opinion: Former Agriculture Commissioner Peter Decker fought for equity for rural Colorado

“Morgan, Roy wants me to be Commissioner of Agriculture. What do I do?” Peter Decker asked. It was 1987 and Gov. Roy Romer was about to announce this appointment. “Get out to rural Colorado,” I answered, having served as commissioner several years earlier. “Go to those Farm Bureau and Farmers Union dinners. Show rural Colorado […]

Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, Culture, Health

How Colorado farmers markets have adapted — with masks and reservations — to open during coronavirus

Jars of honey glowed in the sun. Sweet cherries – the prized survivors of a spring freeze – peeked from small paper bags. Frills of red and green leaf lettuce looked festive in their wooden crates. And Palisade Farmers Market patrons came in droves to the social and retail heart of this small-town for the […]

Posted inHealth

For farmers in a mental health crisis, it’s often tough to seek help. A Colorado program aims to begin conversations.

Maggie Hanna grew up a typical rural kid: in school on weekdays; helping with the cattle on her family’s ranch southeast of Colorado Springs on weekends. Except Hanna had something else to contend with. When she was 9, her father, Kirk Hanna, died by suicide.  Now, she’s working to bring more mental health resources to […]