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Local programs and events: Coffee Break expansion, Farm Bureau vouchers saved, CDA website and summit RFP
Summary
Working-group members reported local program activity including Larimer County Coffee Break, a Farm Bureau voucher program preserved from a proposed cut, and new CDA web resources and an RFP for an Ag Behavioral Health Summit.
Members reported local program activity and resources that support agricultural behavioral health, including a new Coffee Break group in Larimer County and a Farm Bureau voucher program that state legislators preserved in the recent budget process.
Tim Miller, state affairs director for the Colorado Farm Bureau, said the Farm Bureau’s camp program — which provides six free vouchers for rural farmers to access agricultural-friendly therapists — faced a proposed cut in the state budget of approximately $50. Miller said Representative Dusty Johnson intervened on the House floor and the repeal was defeated: "This program is gonna get funded for at least the next two years," he said. Miller said Representative Johnson hopes to introduce legislation to make the funding permanent.
Separately, Sarah (board member, Larimer County Farmers Alliance) said her group has started a Coffee Break event at the Fox Den in northern Fort Collins, scheduled for the first Monday of every month from noon to 1 p.m. The group held its first meeting and had six attendees; she said Agwell covered coffee for the first event but that federal RASF grant cancellations have removed some expected funds and the alliance will seek alternative support going forward.
Rosie Scovern of the Colorado Department of Agriculture said she reorganized the Ag Behavioral Health web pages into a central hub with resource tables and an events submission form. She invited group members to add events and resources and said she will update the events and funding page roughly weekly.
Robert Sacada, Ag Water Policy Advisor at the Colorado Department of Agriculture, said the department extended a request-for-proposals deadline for an Ag Behavioral Health Summit to mid-May and that a tentative in-person working-group meeting is planned for July 22 in Pueblo and a June 24 meeting will include optional in-person training.
Ending: Members who need help with events or resource postings were invited to contact CDA staff; working-group organizers said they will circulate links and meeting materials by email.
