Growers & Producers Forum: Featuring Ranchers
Healthy Archuleta’s Growers and Producers Forum was held on Wednesday the 28th at the Library from 4:15 to 5:45 pm. The Forum is part of Healthy Archuleta’s dedication to advancing local food production as part of community wellness. It accomplishes the double purpose of supporting the growers and producers while at the same time educating our public to the availability of healthy local products.
The most recent forum featured local meat producers. These community members shared about the histories of their operations and their ranching and land management practices. The presenters shared different perspectives on ranching including a third generation cattle ranching outfit begun in the 80’s that focuses on cattle production for local beef sales. Another perspective was from a family that moved to Archuleta County about three years ago to start a ranch that focuses on regenerative agriculture, who shared about their specialty pork production. And finally, a third perspective from a generational rancher, running a large-scale operation and selling beef both locally and out of the county, was hoped for. Unfortunately, they were unable to attend due to the responsibilities of opening up ditches.
Why is all this important to you, the consumer? First, supporting and expanding a local food supply benefits the entire community – wealth stays local also. An abundant local food supply also reduces dependence on long supply lines and the potential consequence of interruption in supply. Secondly, while the finished product has great taste, more importantly it is better for you. The animals are raised on pasture and grass finished which for beef means increased presence of important nutrients and pigs raised in a natural environment also exhibit a higher nutritional value.
The Forum is interesting to all who wish to pursue a healthy diet. For those who showed up, they discovered where local meat can be found. To learn more about the efforts of Healthy Archuleta, please visit our website at www.foodcoalition4archuleta.org or send us an email at [email protected].
The most recent forum featured local meat producers. These community members shared about the histories of their operations and their ranching and land management practices. The presenters shared different perspectives on ranching including a third generation cattle ranching outfit begun in the 80’s that focuses on cattle production for local beef sales. Another perspective was from a family that moved to Archuleta County about three years ago to start a ranch that focuses on regenerative agriculture, who shared about their specialty pork production. And finally, a third perspective from a generational rancher, running a large-scale operation and selling beef both locally and out of the county, was hoped for. Unfortunately, they were unable to attend due to the responsibilities of opening up ditches.
Why is all this important to you, the consumer? First, supporting and expanding a local food supply benefits the entire community – wealth stays local also. An abundant local food supply also reduces dependence on long supply lines and the potential consequence of interruption in supply. Secondly, while the finished product has great taste, more importantly it is better for you. The animals are raised on pasture and grass finished which for beef means increased presence of important nutrients and pigs raised in a natural environment also exhibit a higher nutritional value.
The Forum is interesting to all who wish to pursue a healthy diet. For those who showed up, they discovered where local meat can be found. To learn more about the efforts of Healthy Archuleta, please visit our website at www.foodcoalition4archuleta.org or send us an email at [email protected].