Community shares local food at farm-to-table fundraiser Colorado weather in June often turns on a dime, bringing a full four-seasons’ worth in a matter of
Candace Krebs The Ag Journal When Jessica Larriva moved to Monte Vista to provide full-time caregiving to her mother, she needed a home-based enterprise that offered flexibility. She found the solution through Colorado’s Cottage Food Act, which allows her to sell artisan-style breads made in her own home kitchen. Larriva talked about her business and her interest in heritage grains during a monthly webinar series hosted by the Sangre de Cristo chapter of SOIL, which stands for Slow Opportunities for Investing Locally, a nonprofit set up to provide peer-to-peer lending. The chapter uses tax-deductible donations to provide interest-free loans to area farmers, ranchers and food entrepreneurs. When the loan is repaid, the money goes back into a revolving fund to support other food entrepreneurs, as determined by the members.
Candace Krebs The Ag Journal Forty former members of the National Organic Standards Board sent an open letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack recently, which was also circulated to members of the House and Senate agriculture committees, demanding reforms to insure the integrity of the federal organic label. We are writing to share with you our concern that the integrity of the National Organic Standards has eroded significantly over the years,” the letter states. “In some cases, the Standards have devolved from the original intention, as in the example of enclosed poultry porches substituting for outdoor access. In other cases, a lack of strong enforcement of existing standards has led to well-documented cases of fraud and an economic burden on organic operators who follow the rules, versus those who do not.”