Colorado Farm Tour Event with Rep. Yadira Caraveo

Farmers share climate and economic concerns with Rep. Yadira Caraveo during farm visit

KERSEY, Colo., Oct. 14, 2024 – Colorado leaders and farmer advocates stood up last Thursday in defense of federal investments and tools that help them protect local farms from the impacts of climate change.

U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo of Colorado’s 8th Congressional District joined the Colorado Farm Bureau, Solutions from the Land, and farmers and ranchers to come out in support of Farm Bill funding for climate-smart agricultural practices during a tour of a small, family-run dairy on Oct. 10.

Terry DeGroot, the farmer hosting the event at his Colorado Cow LLC dairy farm, spotlighted the need he says agricultural producers have for financial and technical assistance in meeting state, federal and private industry climate goals such as emissions reduction.

“The House and Senate Agriculture committees are in the process of reauthorizing the Farm Bill, and efforts are underway to include much of these funds in the baseline. I hope this is the case, because Congress must ensure that climate-smart agriculture funding is not redirected to other purposes” said DeGroot.

DeGroot has run Colorado Cow with his wife, Julia, since 2019, when the family changed from running a large, conventional dairy to tending and milking a small herd of Guernsey cows on pasture and bottling their own high-quality milk. Their climate-smart and voluntary conservation efforts are currently focused on improving soil health and nutrient management through a cost-share structure with the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The group in attendance, which included Weld County Farm Bureau leadership and others, told Caraveo how important they believe it is to have support for not only research into new tools and technologies for climate-smart agriculture, but also for staffing of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and other entities to meet the demands and needs of farmers who want to participate in climate-smart activities.

Caraveo told the group that “As I’ve talked to farmers and ranchers across the political spectrum, none of them says ‘you should cut money out of the climate provisions in the Farm Bill.’ Farmers are the original stewards of the land.” She said “we need more conversations like this” so people can come together and fund the research, cost-share programs and support farmers’ need to be more resilient as things change.

Colorado Farm Bureau and Solutions from the Land are both grassroots, member-led organizations that work to share the stories of agriculture and support farmers and ranchers throughout the state of Colorado and across the U.S., respectively.

For more information, contact Ernie Shea, SfL president, eshea@solutionsfromtheland.org  or 410–952–0123.

(Photo Caption) U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo of Colorado’s 8th District listens as dairyman Terry DeGroot of Colorado Cow LLC explains his climate-smart practices and the importance of continued Farm Bill funding for financial and technical assistance to meet climate goals. Caraveo visited the small family dairy near Kersey, Colorado, on Oct. 10, 2024.