Andrew Pam

2024-07-27 12:02:52

A Vibrant Local Food System Grows in Colorado

Throughout the summer in the Golden, Colorado, area, you might see a big box truck full of local fresh vegetables hosting a pay-what-you can farmer’s market. Affectionately called Chuck, GoFarm’s mobile market truck travels to low-income neighborhoods, schools, retirement homes, mobile home communities and more. It offers local produce that GoFarm sources from 80 to 90 farms every season, including small-scale urban farms, large family-owned farms and beginning farmers going through their incubator program.

“Our vision is a strong, resilient, environmentally sustainable and equitable local food system,” says Virginia Ortiz, GoFarms executive director.

Ortiz sees GoFarm’s role as a hub that takes care of the logistics of supporting small farms and feeding the community.

Building community partnerships is a crucial element, and GoFarm works with other food access organizations such as Hunger Free Golden and JeffCo Food Policy Council to reach more people and create a broader base of resources.

Founded in 2014, GoFarm started with its local food share program (essentially a CSA curated from multiple farms). More than a decade later, it has become an organization that trains and develops beginning farmers and creatively tackles the problem of how to get affordable, fresh food to the community. As a nonprofit, it is able to fundraise for grants and donations to support its programming and supplement that with revenue generated through produce sales.

GoFarm’s incubator farmer program gives beginning farmers access to a quarter acre of land for the two-year duration of the program. The farmers receive all the training they need to plan, plant and manage a farm — regardless of their background.

A Vibrant Local Food System Grows in Colorado

GoFarm is working to make affordable healthy food more accessible while training the next generation of farmers.

^{Lindsey Beatrice (Reasons to be Cheerful)}