Jul 5, 2019Colorado announces first farms to benefit from paid intern initiative
The Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) has announce the first businesses chosen for the new Agricultural Workforce Development Program, which provides financial incentives to agricultural businesses, including farms and ranches, to hire paid interns.
“This program invests in the future of Colorado’s agriculture and will help create a pathway for the next generation of farmers, ranchers, and ag leaders to access educational work opportunities in a real business setting,” said Kate Greenberg, Commissioner of Agriculture.
Business applications were reviewed and scored by a group of industry stakeholders including a vegetable grower, a human resources professional and representatives from Colorado Farm Bureau, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and Young Farmers Coalition. The application pool was extremely competitive, diverse and represented producers from across the state.
The Colorado agricultural businesses awarded internship incentives for use between April 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020 are:
| Altitude Mesa Hops Farms – Delta
Badger Creek Ranch – Canon City Community Table Farm – Longmont CSU Western Colorado Research Center — Grand Junction Father Earth Organic Farm – Lafayette FLC-Old Fort at Hesperus – Durango Green Valley Turf – Platteville Gunnison Gardens – Gunnison High Pine Produce – Durango Hobbs and Meyer – Arkansas Valley Indian Ridge Farm – Norwood |
North Field Farm – Lafayette
Ollin Farms – Longmont Raisin’ Roots Farm – Fort Collins Ring-a-Ding Farms – Salida Rio Grande Farm Park – Alamosa Round River Resource Management – Rush San Juan Land & Livestock – Saguache Sprout City Farms – Denver Tierra Vida Farm – Durango |
Internship opportunities include work with Community Supported Agriculture operations, regenerative ranching, livestock production and tree fruit, grape, and vegetable production research.
“As a new farm operation, having my first intern has allowed me to expand my farm and to learn about my own leadership capabilities,” said Andrew Nowak with Community Table Farm in Longmont. “Without this new help, my business would still be in its beginning stage.”
For more information, visit www.colorado.gov/agmain.
