First Growers & Producers Forum of 2025

Healthy Archuleta is happy to announce the first Growers & Producer Forum of  2025 today at 4:00 pm at the Library.  The topic is hot water, to be specific our local resource, geothermal hot water, and its role in agriculture.
Our main presenter is Kirsten Skeehan who was employed by Pagosa Verde in 2015 when this small start-up together with the US Dept of Energy and the Colorado School of Mines, was deeply involved in locating and drilling for sources of geothermal water here in this county. - their objective is to produce heat for greenhouse production year-round. Kirsten will share her experience with that venture. 
Courtney King, a local architect who counts among her accomplishments the site plans of the Geothermal Greenhouse Partnership, will bring along some photos and impressions of her recent trip to Iceland, specifically that country’s huge investment in greenhouses powered by geothermal heat.
We expect this first Forum of 2025 to be very worth your while. In fact, we expect the same of your attendance at the regular monthly Forum. And here is the reason.  We intend to deal with a variety of topics intended to make us think of the role of grower or producer on a broader stage. Take, for example, the topic of world hunger. How are we, growers and producers of Archuleta County, connected to that issue?  What meaningful action can we take? Let’s see.

A recent letter signed by 150 Nobel Prize and World Food laureates (see World Food Prize Foundation website) foresees a World Hunger Catastrophe in the next 25 years without political and financial backing to develop “moonshot” technologies.

​Exaggeration? Hard to hand it off as such, given the uncomfortable twin truths of the numbers (700 million hungry world-wide and growing) and the implications of climate on water and food production.
Still wondering how we fit into this scenario?  Just take a look at what this group of experts identifies as local action: 1) Prioritize local, seasonal, and Indigenous foods whenever able, 2) Eat everything in your fridge before it goes bad, 3) Elevate farmer voices and success stories in your communities, and 4) Use our voices to move institutions.
Sound like something you are already doing or could do?  These four make up a large part of the Healthy Archuleta Agenda; what better place to see in action than at the Growers & Producers Forum?  This is what the Forum is all about!  Join us and contribute to creating local “moonshot” technologies aimed at increasing the local food supply and work toward its equitable distribution.  Create community, share knowledge, learn and take action.