Colorado Agriculture Commissioner Don Ament fielded questions on subjects ranging from world-trade issues to genetically modified foods to protection of farm land from development at a community forum at the Dolores Community Center Thursday evening.

In front of a crowd of approximately 90, the commissioner and members of the State Board of Agriculture gave citizens the chance to air their concerns regarding the current state of agriculture, which Ament said contributes $13 billion per year to the Colorado economy.

He spoke emphatically about the need to promote and protect the agriculture industry from encroaching development, and the importance of educating the next generation to recognize and support the volatile industry that helps feed the state’s 4 million residents.

"We are worried about the changes in agriculture that cause us to lose almost 90,000 acres of agriculture land to development every year," Ament said. "And as we lose those acres, we see the shift of agriculture water to municipal use."

In Montezuma County that agricultural wealth is represented by pinto beans and alfalfa, cornerstones of the local economy. Southwest Colorado has become well-known in the last five years for producing the high-quality alfalfa demanded by top-producing dairy farms for feed, said audience member and farm appraiser Bob Wright.

He asked what the board felt the future holds for local alfalfa growers who must depend on a dairy industry that is far away.

State agriculture board member Max Harper, who runs a dairy farm, assured Wright that while the price for milk is going down now, "as long as there is quality dairy hay, it will sell."

The group also discussed the future of agriculture, particularly in regard to new technology such as genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Board member Glenn Murray said that marketing of GMOs has historically focused on production methods, but should concentrate more on convincing wary consumers the products are safe.
"GMOs are technology that we do not want to lose, but we also want to handle it correctly," Murray said. "The general consumer is not yet convinced, so we need to show them that it is a way to produce food that is more healthy, has a better shelf life and tastes better."

Ament and the commissioners expressed support for China joining the World Trade Organization to expand market potential here. But they stopped short of challenging federal-government decisions regarding trade and states’ rights issues, as some in the audience encouraged them to do.

"We cannot disobey federal law or the Environmental Protection Agency, and if you think we can, think again," Ament said. "The state cannot overturn the federal government. Do we really want to spend our time and money fighting a lawsuit challenging the federal government?"

Ament said in response to federal intervention in public-land issues, the state is trying to show that it can promote the best management practices, that its endangered-species reintroduction efforts are better than the federal government’s, and that it can handle the roadless issue by showing that the state’s management of public lands is better than the U.S. government’s.

As the remaining 25,000 farms and ranches in Colorado fend off pressure from developers looking to subdivide for a quick buck, Ament called for the crowd to continue their fight for recognition and respect in a society that spends less than 10 percent of its income on food, yet seems complacent about agriculture.