Production Planning for Specialty Crops in the Five Major Farming Areas of Colorado

Project Leader: Daniel Hobbs for Tres Rios Agricultural Cooperative, Inc., Denver, CO Technical Advisor: Frank Stonaker, Specialty Crops Program, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO Project Year: 2004

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Project Summary

The Tres Rios Agricultural Cooperative seeks to develop and implement tools and a methodology for planning organic specialty crop production in the five major agricultural regions of Colorado . The absence of coordinated planning has led member producers to make poor crop selections, and resulted in bad market timing, unnecessary duplication, and a need, for the cooperative, to source products from outside of the region. This will be a three-phase project:

•  Develop production planning tool and methodology for implementation with technical advisor

•  Contact and visit existing and prospective producers for production planning, marketing, and membership in cooperative

•  Conduct outreach to other producer groups and agricultural service providers to share planning tool and methodology

A parallel component of this project is to develop a strategy to include the chemical-free, but not certified organic producers. These growers will not join the USDA certification for a variety of reasons and present operational challenges for the staff of the cooperative, since there is no assurance of the lack of chemicals used. Under development by NewFarms organization is a project that involves the creation of common production standards and a regional label based on ecological production methods, under which crop production consulting will be offered to member and potential member growers.

The results of this project will be increased volume of Colorado specialty products in Colorado markets, decreased competition, duplication, and waste among producers, and increased membership in the cooperative.

Early in 2004, Tres Rios made a list of all the desirable crops grown in Colorado and northern New Mexico and the amounts that the coop purchases on a regular basis. This was then sent to all of the grower members of the cooperative. Some members responded, saying they would grow something on the list, some had already made plans of what they would grow. This cut down on duplicates and competition. A trend was found that larger growers were more willing and able to accept market prices, tend to grow what works for them under their particular growing conditions, and are certified organic. Small growers in the Co-op are generally less flexible with prices, less inclined to try a new and different crop, and are reticent to obtain organic certification. This led to two different groups being formed: wholesale and specialty crops.

Results

One result of this project was that some producers who engaged in the production planning process tried new crops. One grower expanded a crop that he had never thought of growing before. The most important result was the recognition of the need to separate wholesale and specialty crop production marketing activities. A lot of time was spent on how to do this separation. A plan was drafted that called for the creation of a new Limited Liability Company (LLC), which will take on produce distribution functions, and the restructuring of the Tres Rios Cooperative.

Ultimately, the Tres Rios Cooperative dissolved due to a variety of managerial and financial issues. NewFarms has continued to work toward developing a regional marketing label that identifies production standards for its regionally-based producers.

Click here for the full text of the 2004 Annual Report (Word document).