Central Colorado Foodshed Timeline

Good Steward Farms founded in Peyton, Colorado (El Paso County).
Soil Cycle is established as a social enterprise of Colorado Springs Food Rescue. Soil Cycle collected local food waste and turned it into composting for use in community gardens.
El Paso County Public Health Food System Assessment Phase I Report is released, conducted by El Paso County Public Health.
- This report is an addendum to the Community Health Assessment. An advisory committee was composed of members of the Food Policy Advisory board, local food advocates, Colorado State University Extension, LiveWell, Penrose-St. Francis Health Services, Colorado Springs Food Rescue, and representatives from the City of Fountain and City of Manitou Springs.
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Sustainability, Wellness and Learning (SWELL) Initiative receives $50,000 grant to create local food cookbook.
The third Pikes Peak Foodshed Forum is hosted by the Sustainability, Wellness and Learning Initiative (SWELL) at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs and the Green Cities Coalition.
Pikes Peak Market, a nonprofit public market, opens at 9 S. Weber St. The market had space for about 20 vendors, whose products included fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, breads and desserts, with locally sourced foods used as much as possible.
- The Market started with seven vendors and expanded to 11 by mid-2018. With increasing interest from vendors, the Market decided to move locations. Closed in 2021, dissolved, January 2023.
The Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger is released by a multi-stakeholder steering committee, facilitated by the Colorado Health Foundation.
Colorado Food Pantry Assistance Grants are administered via Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger. Goal is to support organizations working directly in Colorado communities.
- Started by Hunger Free Colorado in 2018, with support from its Colorado Food Pantry Network, the state legislature, and then-Governor Hickenlooper. In 2020, Colorado Department of Human Services became the grant administrator, expanding market opportunities for Colorado’s agricultural products.
Rocky Mountain Farmers Union launched a three-year agricultural workforce pilot program in Delta County to increase the amount of available skilled agricultural labor in Colorado.
Rise in direct-to-consumer sales of Colorado agricultural products through 100+ farmers markets, 140 CSAs, and farm-to-school in 42 school districts across the state.
Arkansas Valley Organic Growers disbands.
Jack’s Solar Garden, in Boulder County, uses “agri-voltaic” farming.
2018 Farm Bill maintains SNAP benefits and eligibility.

El Paso County Public Health Food System Assessment Phase II Report released, conducted by QUAD Innovation Partnership which is a joint initiative between Colorado College, Pikes Peak Community College, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and the US Air Force Academy.
- The Phase II report builds off of Phase I, in which four specific neighborhoods were identified as lacking access to healthy food in Colorado Springs — Knob Hill, Pikes Peak Park, Hillside, and Stratton Meadows. A team of undergraduate students facilitated through the QUAD Innovation Partnership was commissioned to develop and validate interventions informed by community-level data from the Phase I report, lived-experience data collected by Colorado Springs Food Rescue, and supplemented by additional local and national data collected by the student team.
El Paso County Food Systems Policy Audit (Food Systems Assessment Phase III) is conducted by MIG, Inc., a contractor hired by El Paso County Public Health. The audit was conducted by interviewing food policy stakeholders and by conducting a code scrub of policy and planning documents associated with El Paso County and two of its municipalities: Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs.
Green Hill Farm is founded in Peyton, Colorado (El Paso County).
La Florecita Farm is founded in Peyton, Colorado (El Paso County).
The fourth Pikes Peak Foodshed Forum is hosted by the Sustainability, Wellness and Learning Initiative (SWELL) at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs and the Green Cities Coalition. LiveWell Colorado is a funding partner. Palmer Land Trust gives the keynote speech.
The 100 Garden Challenge is launched by Larry Stebbins, former director of Pikes Peak Urban Gardens. The Challenge intends to incentivize Colorado Springs residents to start a vegetable or herb garden by offering coupons to local garden centers, the chance to win bigger prizes, and the opportunity to solicit Stebbins’ advice about gardening.
Pueblo Seed and Food Company is founded by owners of Hobbs Family Farm.
22 Electrical cooperatives serve rural, urban, and suburban areas across Colorado.
Skywoman discussion forum created by farmer Chris Newman.
U.S. Space Force created.

COVID-19 causes supply chain disruptions, food insecurity, and unemployment. These disruptions lead to a variety of local and national response activities and policies including mutual aid, food access, rent moratoriums, and childcare relief. These activities have been followed by a flood of government and non-government resources, funding, and programming intended to build more resilient systems and communities.
A Fresh Move mobile market opens in southeast Colorado Springs. A Fresh Move converts to brick and mortar A Fresh Move Neighborhood Grocery Store, in Widefield-Security, in 2023.
New Roots Farm pilots Open Food Network, an open source sales platform.
- Open Food Network was founded in 2012 in Australia and has become a platform operating in 20 countries. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed many small- and mid-size farmers to use online sales platforms to manage the increase in sales and reach a broader, virtual market.
Bread & Butter Neighborhood Market opens in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
SOCO Virtual Farmers Market is created in Colorado Springs, Colorado by Katie Belle Miller, owner and operator of Heritage Belle Farms located in Peyton, Colorado. The virtual market is managed by Local Food Marketplace, Inc., an online sales software specifically for farmers, food hubs, markets, and CSAs.
Black Forest Backyard Market is founded in Black Forest, Colorado (El Paso County).
- The Backyard Markets now have three locations – one in Black Forest and two in Colorado Springs. One of the markets in Colorado Springs–Park Union Public Market–is a year-round, one day per week, indoor market, launched in 2023.
Pueblo Food Project is formed as a quasi-department, quasi-program of the City of Pueblo under the leadership of Mayor Nick Gradishar. Pueblo Food Project received funding from Colorado Health Foundation, among other grantors.
The fifth Pikes Peak Foodshed Forum is hosted at Pikes Peak State College with the Green Cities Coalition.
Project Protect Food System Workers is organized to ensure food system workers are protected from COVID-19 and adequately compensated for their labor.
- Their projects have included work advocacy for the Agriculture Worker Bill of Rights (“SB21-087), building the Project Protect Promotoro Network across the state, and Escenial, a storytelling project about the lives of agricultural workers.
LiveWell changes to Nourish Colorado. The organization rebrands to reflect its evolution into an organization transforming food systems.
Colorado Department of Education and United States Department of Agriculture provide programs and funding to support K-12 schools and local farmers as part of COVID-19 response funding packages.
Colorado Food Summit is hosted in January 2020 by Colorado Food Systems Institute at Colorado State University Extension. The Summit focused on advancing food policies that support urban-rural connections.
Colorado is the top organic millet producing state.
- Millets include a variety of cereal grains—sorghum, teff, pearl millet, and more—that are considered climate-resilient due to their tolerance for drought and high temperatures as well as resistance to pests and diseases.
Hobbs Family Farm moves to Cortez, Colorado due to interference from nearby GMO field corn.
GMO crops dominate the conventional agricultural market in the United States. Eighty-six percent of corn, 93% of soy, and 95% of sugar beets in the United States are GMO, including “Roundup ready” seeds.

Pikes Peak Permaculture receives a Farm to School Grant to support Flying Pig Farm’s work.
- In partnership with schools from Manitou Springs School District-14 and Colorado Springs School District-11, they will expand farm to school opportunities to reach more students and will establish a curriculum aligned with core curriculum standards with accompanying ready-to-go material and lesson-plan kits. As part of this curriculum, Flying Pig Farm will also connect students with the broader regional agricultural community through a high school “Careers in Agriculture” unit.
Good Steward Farms is the first regional farm to receive Certified Naturally Grown certification, a less expensive and more convenient alternative to USDA Certified Organic.
El Paso County Public Health Food System Assessment Final Report and Recommendations is released by El Paso County Public Health. This report is a summary of Phases I-III.
“Joyful Check-ins” are launched by a small group of food system activists in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The virtual check-ins coordinate COVID-19 response.
Agape New Harvest Outreach Pantry connects to local farmers through the Hunt or Gather Buying Club.
Colorado Springs Food Rescue releases 2021-2023 strategic plan and becomes Food to Power.
Colorado Farm and Art Market and New Roots Farm experiment with online sales using Open Food Network.
Food Maven is converted to a food tech platform.
Agricultural Labor Rights and Responsibilities (“SB21-087”) expands agricultural worker rights. This was the result of significant organizing and advocacy efforts by groups like Project Protect (based in Denver). The short-handled hoe is outlawed as part of this bill.
Rocky Mountain Food Collaborative is founded by a group of ranchers and farmers throughout Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Kansas, and Utah. The primary goal of the collaborative is to open a network of food markets in Colorado, starting with Denver.
Emergency increase in SNAP benefits due to COVID-19.

Food Policy Advisory Board dissolves.
USDA Regional Food Systems Partnership two-year planning grant is awarded to Central Colorado Foodshed Partnership (CCFP).
- The Partnership includes El Paso County Public Health, Colorado State University Extension, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the City of Colorado Springs Office of Innovation, and a local food systems consultant. Their work focuses on assessing and understanding gaps in communication and collaboration and finding ways to strengthen the regional system in their tri-county focus area: El Paso, Pueblo, and Fremont Counties.
A Sustainability Advisory Board is created to advise Colorado Springs City Council. The Board is not yet filled.
Hillside Hub is opened by Food to Power. The hub is “Colorado Springs’ first neighborhood food center,” providing community members “a place to come to access, cook, eat, grow, learn about, advocate for, and gain employment through fresh food.”
Colorado Springs Co-op Learning-Action Circle is formed. Farmers, consumers, activists meet to develop cooperative responses to food system problems.
Southeast Colorado Springs assessment reports conducted by Colorado College students with Solid Rock CDC.
Southeast Food Coalition is formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado and includes Solid Rock Community Development Corporation, Food to Power, RISE Southeast, Deerfield Community Center, Care and Share, and Hunger Free Colorado.
Ahavah Farms receives funds from Nourish Colorado to provide weekly free CSA shares to 100 Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) program participants late June through mid-September.
Backyard Farmers’ Market in El Paso County starts accepting Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) vouchers via the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP). The FMNP provides WIC participants over the age of 1 with a coupon booklet valued at a total of $30 to buy fresh, locally-grown fruits, vegetables, and herbs.
Martin Drake Power Plant, located in Colorado Springs, closes after 100 years.
Colorado voters pass Healthy School Meals for All with massive organizing and advocacy efforts from Hunger Free Colorado, Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger, Nourish Colorado, and many more grassroots organizations.
Colorado Food Summit is hosted in December 2022 by Colorado Food Systems Institute at Colorado State University Extension. The Summit planning committee was composed of food policy council representatives from across the state. The committee developed a mission for the Summit: to inspire diverse food systems stakeholders to build a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing our food system.
Kroger and Albertsons – parent companies of Safeway and King Soopers, major grocery chains in Colorado – announce their plans to merge. The Colorado Attorney General visits towns across the state to collect stories about potential impacts of the merger on consumers, workers, and suppliers.

Agape Pantry wins El Paso County Public Health Partner Engagement Grant. El Paso County Public Health received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for Strengthening U.S. Public Health Infrastructure, Workforce, and Data Systems. With these funds, Agape purchases local food ingredients and products through Hunt or Gather Buying Club.
The King Soopers in southeast Colorado Springs on S. Academy Boulevard closes due to the discovery of asbestos. As a primary food access location in the southeast part of the city, the closure generated a lot of concern among residents.
- Food to Power organizes a community meeting about the issue to generate temporary solutions and fills food access gaps with their free grocery distribution. The store reopened after a 3-month closure and renovation.
Colorado Springs Co-op Learning-Action Circle organizes farm work days and a co-op organizing course.
Browns Greens, a residential composting company, is acquired by Soil Cycle, a social enterprise of Food to Power.
Southeast Food Coalition hosts two farm days with Good Steward Farms.
Regional small farms are added to Hunt or Gather Buying Club’s inventory, including Heritage Belle Farms, Green Hill Farms, and Black Sheep Pastures.
- The Open Food Network sales platform made it easier for both parties to onboard new farms and has increased local access to regional farm products.
Colorado passes the Consumer Repair Bill of Rights Act, the first right to repair law for farms in the United States. It requires manufacturers to provide resources so farms can repair farm equipment themselves.
Healthy School Meals for All program allows public schools participating in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs to provide free meals to all students beginning in the 2023-24 school year.
- Funding to increase wages or provide stipends for front line kitchen staff and incentives to purchase local food are available to participating schools in the 2024-2025 school year.
Local farmers are now eligible to participate in SNAP and the Double Up Food Bucks Program, as a direct-to-consumer business.
Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center conducted a mobile workforce feasibility study for the creation of a farmworker cooperative.
- This study was built off of a three-year pilot program conducted between 2018-2021 in southwest Colorado, Delta County.
Colorado Food Summit is hosted in December 2023 by Colorado Food Systems Institute at Colorado State University Extension.
- The Summit aimed to inspire collaborative action towards a more resilient and equitable food future in the face of uncertainty (e.g., pandemic, drought, inflation, supply chain shortages) through panel presentations, storytelling, creative presentations, and facilitated networking.
Southwest Farm Fresh Cooperative goes out of business.
Colorado Mushroom Farm converts to Sand Dunes Mushroom Cooperative.
Wealth inequality in the U.S. is widening. Top 10% of households have 66.6% of total household wealth. The bottom 50% have only 2.6%.

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