January 2009 Agricultural and resource policy report, no. 1

January 2009

Health outcomes

October 2010.Colorado has had the lowest adult obesity rate in the U.S., but is worsening from its status a decade ago. Because of the perceived link between food access, behavior and consumption, exploring connections between the food system and health/nutrition is warranted. The region has shown only slight improvement in two indicators of improved health behaviors—consuming enough fruits and vegetables and adequate physical activity—and all improvements made were in Weld County. Given some limited improvement in health outcomes, and evidence that targeted community programming was effective in Weld county, there may be reason to consider food system issues in future public health discussions

2012 Farm Bill's reach: unintended consequences of a failure to update or extend the 2008 Act, The

August 2012.In the absence of Congressional action, the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (a.ka. the '2008 Farm Bill') will expire on September 30, 2012. However, the potential expiration of the provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill does not mean producers will operate in a policy vacuum. Rather, the provisions of 'permanent' – so-called because they were enacted without expiration dates – legislation takes effect. For most commodity producers, the relevant legislation is the Agricultural Act of 1949 as well as certain provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938. In contrast, for most others impacted by the 2008 Act, the implications represent greater uncertainty about the delivery of programs. This report evaluates the potential consequences of reversion to the 1949 Act, each of the three main programmatic areas will be discussed in turn

July 2010 economic development report, no. 2

July 2010.Includes bibliographical references

Social networking and marketing for Colorado's agricultural producers

December 2009

Location, location, location: do production sources influence consumer perceptions?

October 2009

Possible roles for social networking in agritourism development

March 2010.Includes bibliographical references

Understanding the effectiveness of Farm to School programs through food service professionals

October 2011.This study was intended to share perceptions and experiences from the initial years of Colorado Farm to School activities, with a particular focus of the perceived effectiveness of such programs in the eyes of one major stakeholder: the food service staff. Beyond providing a "school-eye view" of the program's impact on employee attitudes and student participation, the evaluation of food service stakeholders in the farm-to-school programs may ultimately lead to the development of 'best practices' for other schools to support their programs