by Mike Rosso
The Upper Arkansas Valley is entering the 21st century with innovative farming and sustainable land use groups dedicated to the local foods movement and to maintaining and enhancing the agricultural heritage of the area.
One of the major players in the new agricultural movement is Guidestone and its Central Colorado land-link initiative. Formed three years ago with the primary purpose of fostering a local food system by assisting new farmers to find access to farmland, the group is the brainchild of David Lynch, who ran a similar program on the Front Range. It was then known as Guidestone Farms, which was a fully diversified community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm that served over 350 families in northern Colorado.