Regenerative Agriculture: A Proposal for Farm Tours in Colorado
As a mental health and environmental advocate for the last 25 years, I’ve been a personal trainer in Denver, wrote a book on behavior modification, and hosted/produced the podcast The Elements of Being. While my efforts have steered a new consciousness, I recently began working with the organizations Grow Your Own Meal and the Alliance Center to steer the next wave of environmental mindfulness and regenerative agriculture in Colorado. I’ve included the recent proposal we submitted to the Alliance Center below. These efforts will undoubtedly set the standard in this state and provide a template for other states to replicate!
Colorado Farm Tours / Photo: Roman Odintsov
My Approach/Lens
When approaching any project, I try to look at it from every angle (and search for the unknown). Analogous to almost everything in life, the state of agriculture in Colorado is a complex, woven system affected by political, social, and physical influences (a lesson in political geography under our feet). My process typically entails identifying signals, creating hypotheses, researching every known affecting or contributing factor (and looking for the unknowns), reassessing original assumptions, adapting the original hypothesis, and testing. It is very time-consuming, but I believe it is necessary to shape the most unbiased perspective as much as possible.
A specific example is creating a producer guild template to distribute to each of the ten watersheds. While eager to build and move forward with a specific structure, I believe first we need to know all of the organizations, alliances, guilds, and coops who are or aren't carrying this torch already and learn about their specific experiences communicating and organizing their members and meeting their needs. Contact with multiple organizations in each watershed is necessary to paint a full picture of their unique needs. From estimating budgets to determining the ideal regenerative farms on the tours, I believe a similar approach will comprehensively serve the vision. The key is a thorough, adaptable business plan. Like a chessboard, I can't make my first move until I understand the pieces I'm playing with. It couldn't be a more true statement whenever politics are involved in an issue. I believe all of you know this better than I do.
My Intent: After 25 years of studying human behavior, 14 years of studying the connection between our health and the environment, and one year of researching and identifying the most effective solutions to end climate change, change our healthcare system, build more equitable food systems, improve our health, protect our environment, and develop more resilient land, I find myself with all of you fine folks! No pressure. I don't want to push a traveling carnival if the group's intent is only a Ferris Wheel, but I think we have the tools, knowledge, and support to build the best (replicable) show on earth. I believe reshaping agriculture in this state can end climate change, change our healthcare system, build more equitable food systems, improve our health, protect our environment, and develop more resilient land. I intend to play a pivotal role in this change.
My Vision for the Initiative: While agritourism is our primary objective, I believe it is the conduit to the current agriculture ecosystems in each of the ten watersheds and their various conservation districts. We can build strategic relationships between policymakers, universities, the CDA, future producers, guilds and alliances, media, and influencers from other agricultural regions. Meanwhile, we can identify the gaps and voids in each ecosystem and strategically strengthen their foundations and voices to build a unified wave for new resilient agriculture policy (with equity in mind). Focusing on soil health could be the theme that steers agriculture players from all realms into a regenerative future and will bring a new awareness of the importance of responsible land practice and stewardship. No doubt, dedication to these tours throughout the state could provide a unified regenerative front for a new future of agriculture in Colorado.
What will regenerative agriculture in Colorado look like in 10 years? / Photo: Tom Fisk
My Proposal
Please note that this proposal is for brainstorming. These ideas have been extracted from all of your suggestions and my research, and I hope they lead us to a consistent message we can carry into our stakeholder conversations.
Overall, we need to restructure the existing initiative from 3 verticals to an umbrella that supports a 3-4 year effort of Farm Tours in each of the watersheds (or regions to be determined after research). The time can be shortened or lengthened based on funding and effort. I assume that the ideal period for tours is fall, and it's unknown how many tours our group can plan without more investment. Here is a possible reorganization of the initiative and other suggestions for specific areas.
Structure for the Farm Tours Initiative
PSA/Marketing
Themes
While the research of the various ecosystems should be reflected in all efforts, the mission of the CDA (preparing future farmers and fostering responsible stewardship of the environment), Alliance Center (advancing regenerative agriculture practices and soil health initiatives), and Max Neumeyer's soil health efforts under Mad Agriculture may the best and most prevailing themes. Sharing the unique characteristics of the state's various regions will certainly support these messages.
Farm Tours Website
The website will serve as the introduction to the Farm Tours in each of the watersheds and the defining characteristics of each area. This information will be based on the research of the following factors (more to be found with additional research):
Conservation Districts, Watersheds, Defining Characteristics, Soil Health Effect on Ecosystem/Local Economy, County, State Representative, State Senator, County Commissioner, Local Agriculture Policy, Number of Farms, Number of Research Farms, Local Universities, Local Research, Local Grants, CDPHE Geographic Region, CDPHE Geographic Region Characteristics, CNHP Classification Guide to the Ecological Systems, CNHP Classification Guide to the Ecological Systems Characteristics, number of Farms, number of Regenerative Farms, Average Age of Farms, Local Incentives and Credits, Communication Tools, Voting Behavior, Annual Precipitation, Subsidies Awarded by County, Specific Needs by County
While we have chosen the ten watersheds and their conservation districts as our main focus (with soil health in mind), the completion of the research should steer what messages are most important on the Farm Tours website in each watershed and the themes on the tours. Essentially, the factors that steer each region the most, like the ones mentioned above, are yet to be determined and could be unique depending on the locale. Considering that each watershed has an agricultural ecosystem, we honor that complexity and be mindful of these factors (and perhaps the ones unknown at this point in research). Once we finish the research, we can work with universities in each area to refine the information and help curate the content on these individual pages of the website. This relationship could be the conduit to bring the universities on as stakeholders while endorsing their efforts and expertise. We can also share the many educational tools offered by organizations such as HMI on these pages.
Starting the PSA/Marketing Plan
We need to research and understand the appropriate message for the CDA, Alliance Center, and Mad Agriculture and intertwine it with specific messaging for each of the watersheds' unique needs and interests. We may want to consider marketing the small farm tour efforts like those proposed by the Gunnison Valley Producer's Guild as ongoing or lead-in events to the Alliance Center Farm Tours. Another consideration is a marketing partnership with the OpenTEAM, Regen1, and Hylo teams if we endorse their joint social platform, Hylo.
Politics
Policymakers
We'll need strategic political efforts to reinforce and strengthen the regenerative agriculture system while connecting to the conventional farming sphere. We can connect policymakers who sponsored specific environmental, agriculture, and soil health bills to watershed area organizations, alliances, and more in their respective counties and districts. You can find key bills and their lawmaker sponsors (with contact information) in my research. These sponsors could be stakeholders for specific tours depending on the area they represent.
Local Policy and Politics
Also, identifying current agriculture subsidies in each region and developing a strategy to steer more of that funding to regenerative practices should be a consideration. Shedding light on the practitioner and regional needs may steer who shares a van with whom on each tour track. Also, voting behaviors and regional politics might steer our messaging for each tour.
Social Cohesion
Social Platform
I endorse connecting to the Hylo social platform instead of creating our regenerative network. The Farm Tours website can be the introduction and conduit to their platform. It should be noted that the Hylo team collaborates with OpenTEAM and Regen1 for an advanced version of the Hylo platform. I'm currently a member of their platforms and other agriculture networks like BFN and AgFuse. No doubt Hylo stands in front (hence OpenTEAM's and Regen1's willingness to collaborate on their creation). Hylo has an extensive research and design process dedicated to building a blockchain system, prioritizing its practitioners' needs and privacy, and decentralizing parts of the agriculture sector. It allows the building of groups and serves as a forum for governance, agriculture credits, education, social sharing, and resource sharing. It lacks an important aspect, though: social nudging. While some practitioners may take steps to organize groups based on specific topics, most won't. I believe we cannot only nudge Hylo and their collaborators to include local hubs particular to local Colorado communities and interests on their platform but also invite them as stakeholders. We can also steer this creation of local hubs/groups with the watershed organizations we discover, create, or work with TransitionUS. We can also encourage education partners to collaborate with Hylo to present their courses and update them on this platform as needed. With this intent, we can save a lot of investment while serving our mission. The official release in the middle of 2023 is based on their published timeline.
Producer's Guilds
I endorse the creation of a producer guild template for each of the ten watersheds (or help existing organizations build a similar structure). While eager to build and move forward with a specific structure, first, I believe we need to know all of the organizations, alliances, guilds, and coops who are or aren't carrying this torch already and learn about their specific experiences communicating and organizing their members and meeting their needs. Contact with multiple organizations in each watershed is necessary to paint a full picture of their unique needs at the beginning of this process. Much research is needed before building the structure (although it may be advantageous to learn about an existing structure for reference).
Regenerative Agriculture Farm / Photo: Monia Es
Farm Tour Design
My wife and I typically sign up for a bike tour and food tour in every city we travel to across the world. A few years ago we even started the business plan for a food tour business in Rome, Italy. From our experiences, the best tours connected us to the history, politics, economics, social norms, and environment of the places we visited. I think we can bring agritourism in Colorado to that level as well. I believe the following factors will make the tours a sustainable success in each watershed.
Identifying Ten Regions and Choosing the Farms
Based on the research above, we should first map the state into ten distinct areas. While the watersheds and conservation districts offer guidance, they may not encompass each region's unifying needs or characteristics. Some areas will bleed into others for various reasons, and we probably can't ignore the reasons why. Once the lines are drawn, it's important to identify the regenerative practitioners and understand their relationship with local organizations and lawmakers. These relationships could steer who we choose for the tours. Connections within our network will certainly fill the gaps. We should steer the first farm tour event in each region and then hand over the keys (e.g., template, alliances, etc.) for area organizations to carry the torch moving forward. While organizations like the Gunnison Valley Producer's Guild may and, hopefully, will play instrumental roles in the Farm Tour efforts, I don't believe they should lead them unless they are aligned with the mission and vision.
Determining the Tracks
Strategically partnering policymakers, media, influencers, organizational leaders, local and regional practitioners, and agriculture students have been discussed. The Gunnison Valley Producers Guild recently mentioned its interest in connecting with more consumers. While I don't believe consumers should be the whole of the mission, a track with paying consumers allows us to give a sizeable and memorable gift to each farm. Either way, how people are chosen in each track should be specifically tied to an intent related to policy advocacy, an alliance between different organizations, funding possibilities for producers, etc. I also wonder if we should invite a speaker for each van ride and allow educated guides to steer the tours on the farms.
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While all of my notes and suggestions don't provide every detail or aspect necessary for a successful initiative, I hope it helps steer the future discussion and leads us to a collective and consistent vision and message.
Michael Moody, author and personal trainer in Denver
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As an author, a personal trainer in Denver, and podcast host, Michael Moody has helped personal training clients achieve new fitness heights and incredible weight loss transformations since 2005. He also produces the wellness podcast "The Elements of Being" and has been featured on NBC, WGN Radio, and PBS.
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