NEW STRATEGIES FOR WEST SLOPE AGRICULTURE

Beef cooperative, hemp discussed as options

Agricultural researchers in western Colorado are studying a number of
alternatives that could help ranchers and farmers who are struggling to hang
on, especially in places where high land values and development pressures,
coupled with unstable national markets, have led to a decline in agriculture
and a loss of valued open space over the last decade.

But the key to any of the various strategies that are being studied,
including a new grant-funded effort to establish a Roaring Fork Valley beef
cooperative, is to determine a reliable market and develop an infrastructure
regionally to help farmers and ranchers avoid excess marketing costs.

"In just about every case, it gets down to the same problem. You need to
determine a market, and you need a processing plant and other support
structure nearby to make it work," said Dennis Davidson, a resource
conservationist with the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural
Resource and Conservation Service (NRCS) in Glenwood Springs.

It's not for lack of trying. But if more options aren't researched and
developed soon, many observers fear time may be running out for more and
more agriculturists in the region.

"Agriculture here, as it is all over the United States, is in a period of
hard times," said Carbondale rancher and open space advocate Bill Fales.
"Any alternative crop that could be profitable and lets us stay on the land
would be welcomed."

The NRCS has done studies in the past through its sustainable agriculture
and alternative crops program involving two potential vegetable oil crops,
safflower and canola, which a handful of farmers grew successfully near Silt
a few years ago.

"We even had one gentleman set up an oil press in Silt and we tried to
market it. It's possible, but without the support structure it's not
something we're going to see on any large scale," Davidson said.

Likewise, Colorado state researchers are looking at other alternative crops
that could provide an option for farmers who want to diversify beyond the
traditional crops of corn, wheat and hay.

The possibilities are many and varied, from kenaf, an annual tree that is
being studied for its environmental qualities in areas where high-selenium
soil is a problem; to sugar beets, a once-profitable crop that could see a
return to the Western Slope if a viable market can be re-established; to
exotic livestock, such as emus and ostriches; to hemp, another fiber crop
that could hold potential in the varying climates of Colorado, but which
faces a long political and legal battle before researchers can study it and
farmers can grow it legally.

Club 20, a Western Slope business and government association, is also
becoming more involved in supporting the region's agriculture, including
creating awareness about some of the alternatives, Club 20 Executive
Director Stan Broome said.

"We are planning an agriculture information day for this spring through our
agricultural committee to focus on some of these things," Broome said.
"There is a story out there that needs to be told, about what is already
being done to bring added value to agriculture all across the Western
Slope."

But most people in the industry come back to the same argument in just about
every case. If the market isn't there, and the support structure isn't in
place to make it economically viable, no one's going to risk the ranch to
make a go of it.

Buy, sell locally

Instead of finding something that's "unique and different," Davidson said
the answer is in developing new marketing strategies for the agricultural
products that are already established in the region, including targeting
beef and hay at local markets.

"No one crop is going to be the saving grace for agriculture. Instead, it's
the way we market things," he said.

Davidson believes the Western Slope's "alternative crop" is of the
four-legged variety, meaning cows and horses, rather than the green, stalky
or bushy variety.

"All those people who have horses are going to need high quality hay, which
is already being grown here," he said. "That's what will save agriculture in
the valley."

While most of the hay ranchers grow goes to feed their cattle, a percentage
is usually set aside for sale on the side to supplement the ranching
operation, Fales said.

"Good, quality hay for horses brings about $100 to $120 a ton, or about $300
an acre," he said. "But, it depends on the season. Last summer's wet weather
made it tough."

Meanwhile, a $3,000 grant awarded last week by the Aspen Skiing Company's
Environment Foundation to the Carbondale Agricultural Heritage Fund (CAHF)
is a small step in the direction of creating an alternative marketing scheme
for area cattle ranchers.

The CAHF's "Roaring Fork Valley Beef" program aims to establish a
cooperative among area ranchers, where they could sell their beef to local
restaurants and possibly other local markets, rather than on the national
market.

According to the proposal, "By eliminating the middleman and selling the
beef as a premium product, the ranchers will earn a higher price and local
restaurants will receive a unique and healthier product that contributes to
the protection of agricultural land and open space."

It's an economic vote of support for ranchers, and also a way to support the
agricultural lifestyle that provides the visual open spaces in the Roaring
Fork Valley, said CAHF Director Jeannie White.

"First, we need to get the ranchers talking to see if it's a reasonable
option," White said. "It will take a substantial marketing effort, and
consumers need to accept that it will cost more. If people know they're
helping ranchers stay in business, and that it's helping preserve open
space, they're more likely to buy it."

Again, one of the biggest obstacles is to find a processing plant on the
Western Slope that will butcher, pack and distribute the beef at a
reasonable cost. Most larger packing plants on the Front Range rely on high
volumes, which may not be possible from a regional approach.

But it's an idea that is working in the Yampa Valley near the resort town of
Steamboat Springs, where local ranchers sell their beef to a processing
plant in Craig, which then sells it to restaurants in Steamboat.

The fledgling Rocky Mountain Beef cooperative in Delta and Montrose uses a
processing and packing plant in Fruita, but is also still struggling to
develop a local market. It is also looking at the feasibility of ranchers
processing their own meat on-site, rather than relying on a larger
processing plant, Club 20's Broome said.

Kenaf holds some promise

Another grant-funded research project is looking at kenaf, an annual tree
that has potential in environmental remediation efforts on the Western
Slope, as well as in the development of a renewable wood-fiber resource.

"Kenaf is an annual tree that's native to Africa and is planted from seed
and is completed in one growing season," said Calvin Pearson, a research
agronomist at the Fruita Research Center, who is heading up the project
funded by a $250,000 grant from the state's environmental protection
division.

"The are no established markets or commercial production in the region, but
the U.S. does import a tremendous amount for newsprint and other paper
value, and it is being grown in some parts of the country," Pearson said.
"Its main potential here is for environmental remediation to improve soil
that is high in selenium."

Selenium is a naturally occurring heavy metal that is common in the dry
soils of western Colorado. The focus of the study is whether kenaf could be
rotated with other crops to cut down on the selenium level, which could make
the soil more productive and reduce selenium runoff into streams, which is a
problem for downstream water users.

Pearson will present the findings of his three-year study at the Third
Annual Kenaf Society meeting in Fruita in late February. Again, it's an iffy
proposition for Western Slope farmers because of market needs.

"I'd be careful about getting overly excited about kenaf as a viable
alternative crop for western Colorado," he said. "As a research agronomist,
I was asked whether it could be grown here, but there are marketing,
transportation and processing considerations."

The same is true for sugar beets, for which Pearson sees more potential in
this region. "Even there, the cards are in the hands of Western Sugar," a
Nebraska-based company that would have to buy the product.

Pearson said other crops that are being studied for potential Western Slope
production include a new variety of wheat, as well as a hybrid poplar tree
that could be used at Louisiana-Pacific's Olathe waferboard plant in place
of aspen trees, and which could also help with the selenium problem in
soils.

"I do see a real powerful way of reducing environmental problems with
plants, and taking pressure off our public lands with some of these
alternatives," he said. "Any new crop is a long shot, but that doesn't mean
you don't give it some research."

That is, except for hemp, another fiber crop that could hold perhaps the
best potential in the varying climates of Colorado, but which is embroiled
in a decades-long political and legal battle in the U.S. because of its
notorious cousin, the illegal drug marijuana.

The trouble with hemp

"We've been instructed to not even deal with it, because it's an illegal
crop," Pearson said. "In Colorado, there is no current research information
on hemp at all."

Proponents of hemp think that's a shame, because hemp is quickly becoming a
major cash crop in Canada and other industrialized nations where it has been
approved, albeit heavily regulated, for commercial production by licensed
farmers and processors.

Agricultural interests, including the U.S. Farm Bureau and the Grange,
believe it could be a boon for the nation's ailing agriculture industry, as
it was earlier in American history before the line between hemp and
marijuana became blurred with the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937,
which never distinguished between hemp and marijuana.

As a result, the issue remains locked in a feud between federal drug
officials, state governments and agricultural interests.

Colorado has weighed in on the hemp issue on couple fronts in recent years,
both legislatively and with a planned petition drive to put the issue on the
ballot for voters to decide.

Hemp is a fibrous plant, the stalk of which can be used to make a variety of
goods including paper, rope, clothing, food and various oil-based products,
such as soaps and cosmetics.

Environmentalists hail it as a logical alternative to depleting the world's
forest reserves and other non-renewable resources, or using harmful
pesticides required of other textiles crops, such as cotton.

To this day, the Drug Enforcement Administration makes no distinction
between hemp and marijuana in its eradication and enforcement efforts, even
though there's an argument that, properly regulated, it's easy to tell the
plants apart.

Various special interest groups also view legalization of hemp as the first
step toward legalization of marijuana, and are therefore opposed to it. Hemp
proponents believe the textiles and synthetics industries are also behind
keeping hemp illegal for fear of competition.

It is mainly because of the marijuana connection that caused the Colorado
Industrial Hemp Initiative, led by Roy Hecker of Carbondale, to suspend a
petition drive to put a hemp question on the ballot for Colorado voters this
year, because the November ballot will also have a question on medical use
of marijuana.

"The general consensus was that it is better not to have medical marijuana
and industrial hemp on the same ballot as a matter of strategy," Hecker
said. "We thought it might be divisive to both issues."

But Hecker and others vow that the hemp debate isn't going away anytime
soon. However, it may take "illegal" means to push the issue onto the
national agenda.

"The DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) was never given the power to
prevent or regulate the hemp industry, and there are very strong legal
arguments that it is actually legal to grow hemp now," Hecker said.
"Obviously, the result would be arrest and a court battle."

One Colorado lawmaker's interest in hemp hasn't waned in the three years
since her bill proposing hemp as an experimental crop died in the House
Appropriations Committee. But her energy to fight it on the state level has.

"I continue to support hemp, and I think Colorado is missing an opportunity
by not allowing farmers and ranchers to grow it, with a permit," said Rep.
Kay Alexander, R-Montrose, who successfully got her bill through the House
Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee in 1997, but no
further.

"We have to give agriculture producers an opportunity to diversify," she
said. "But I think we're left to sit back and see how the problem can be
corrected at the federal level."

Two cases are currently pending before the Kentucky Supreme Court, one of
them involving actor and hemp activist Woody Harrelson, who voluntarily grew
hemp on his farm intending to be arrested so that the issue could be heard
in court. Regardless of the outcome in Kentucky, it's very likely to end up
in the U.S. Supreme Court, Hecker said.

"We would like to see someone pull what we are calling a 'Woody Harrelson'
in Colorado and plant some hemp seed, get arrested and go to court," he
said. "This would serve to publicize the hemp issue in Colorado and add
pressure for the Supreme Court to get on with this issue."

Regardless, "We are probably looking at years before there is any
appreciable hemp being cultivated in this country," he said.

Consumer awareness key

Once again, even if farmers could grow hemp, or any of the alternatives
being explored, a market and support structure remain the missing piece of
the puzzle. Likewise, consumers have to be made aware of alternative
agricultural products and where to find them.

"The reality is, even if hemp were made legal, there probably wouldn't be
much grown around here," Hecker said. "You would need to build that regional
support system to make it go."

As with locally produced beef or any other product, the other reality is
that consumers have to be willing to pay a premium price to support the
alternatives, at least until a broader market is established.

"When it costs $100 for a pair of hemp jeans, there are not a lot of people
who are going to spend that kind of money," said Mike Holiday of Casual
Culture, a Carbondale retail store that used to specialize in hemp products
but which has scaled back on its hemp line somewhat due to lack of consumer
interest.

Part of the problem is the lack of a domestic source of hemp fiber. "It we
could get hemp products cheaper, I would think it would be an incredible
alternative to cotton. It's more durable, and it lasts longer," Holiday
said.

Likewise, Hot Rags in the Glenwood Springs Mall used to carry a large line
of hemp products but has had to scale back due to lack of consumer demand,
said store manager Amy Anderson.

"People are just not as familiar with it here," Anderson said. However, the
five stores Hot Rags has in Illinois do a pretty good business with hemp
products, she said.

"Education is a big part of it. People don't seem to know the history of
hemp and how important it once was," Anderson added. "A domestic supply
would bring the cost down, which would help."

John Stroud is a staff writer for the Valley Journal in Carbondale. Lynn
Burton, managing editor of the Valley Journal, also contributed to this
report.