Colorado Ag Commissioner 2

Colorado Ag Commissioner 2

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett

Colorado's Commissioner of Agriculture Kate Greenberg says supporting high value ag products and creating new marketing opportunities for diverse crops are among her highest priorities.

Greenberg spoke at length with Colorado Ag Today and says there are many ways the state is working to help market those ag products including putting more resources into the organics program.

"We want to be able to meet that demand and support our producers who are looking at organics not just as a sense of stewardship which of course it is but also for the marketing and the margins so we will be investing there."

And the second place for investments is in the hemp market which Colorado has already led nationally with the Colorado Hemp Advancement and Management Plan. The department is working with about a dozen other state agencies, the governor's office, state tribal nations and about 160 stakeholders.

"Essentially what we're doing across all these hundreds of people who are now engaged is not only building out our USDA state plan which we will be submitting in the fall, but much larger than that is building out the framework for the new hemp industry. We've set up 8 working groups across what we've defined as the supply chain in the beginning which is R&D and seed. And that goes all the way through testing, transport, marketing and all the way through banking and insurance."

Greenberg says they'll be looking beyond hemp oil to the fiber market and to sustainability for farmers.

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