Thursday, February 25, 2010

Encouraging local agriculture

From an economic perspective, if the Roaring Fork Valley were to make a paradigm shift away from it's reliance on construction, real estate development, recreation and ranching how important are greenhouses and community supported farms? As the economics of food change will local farming take the place of, or subsidize, ranching and our other forms of livelihood? As outlined previously, an operation such as Peach Valley CSA or Sustainable Settings will have distinctly different requirements than the homeowner who simply wants to grow some of their own fresh vegetables or animal protein. With our abundance of open space, sunshine and access to irrigation water we have a uniquely favorable situation. A strong community vision (or local food growing master plan) together with the appropriate regulations, incentives and zoning guidelines to support that vision will be key to the success of community-supported agriculture. Is there a consensus?

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