WINDSOR — A farmer, an academic and a compost operator walk into a bar. What do they talk about?
Water, of course. Maybe whiskey or Coors beer, too, but water comes first.
Colorado’s dry winter — despite the snow falling Tuesday in the high mountains — was on the minds of farmers and agricultural professionals at BizWest’s CEO Roundtable of ag-industry professionals held Tuesday at the Better Business Bureau office in west Windsor.
And the lament of those professionals took multiple forms.
First, the dry conditions caused by lack of snow along the Front Range.
Citing the second worst snow pack of all recorded time in Colorado, Joe Petrocco, whose family owns Petrocco Farms with properties between Denver and Greeley, said conditions threaten his crops and livelihood.
“If the rivers are dry, that means there will be no vegetables. We need a plan for the governor to declare a state of emergency for the farms and the employees. We employ over 100 local employees,” he said. No water means less produce, which drives up prices.
“Chain stores are already importing too much from other states and foreign countries. This will increase imports. We’re going to bank on snow and a wet spring and go until we’re forced to stop, and that’s never happened. Ever,” he said.
Attending BizWest’s CEO Roundtable on agriculture were Ashley Legan from sponsor Berg Hill Greenleaf Ruscitti LLP; Mike Grell from sponsor Plante Moran; Travis Bahnsen, A-1 Organics; Jay Ewald, Northern Feed & Bean; Joe Petrocco, Petrocco Farms; Bill Markham, M&M Farms; and Carolyn Lawrence-Dill, dean of the Colorado State University College of Agriculture. (Christopher Wood/BizWest)Second, farms drying up because of growing urbanization.
“Water used to flow downhill, but now it flows to money,” said Berthoud grain and cattle farmer Bill Markham, who runs M&M Farms with his family. “We have developers coming in to steal our water. When water gets so short, they (cities) should be restricting water right now, but they’re not. It’s tough to stay positive in agriculture, but we’re going to be there forever,” he said, vowing to fight until he can fight no more. And Markham, who watches development in Northern Colorado closely, is well known for his public statements at city board meetings about growth.
“There was a big meeting in Berthoud. On the west side of town is a 240-acre farm, owned by the same family for close to 100 years. They sold. The (new) owners went to the town board and said ‘we want to build 400 or 500 houses out there.’ I told my wife, I’m going to that meeting and not say a word. But I got mad, and I made the front page of the Loveland paper the next day. This is terrible what they want to do to the west side of Berthoud. Everybody loves to see the corn fields and the grain. I made the landowner mad, and I’ve known him forever. But I got a standing ovation from the crowd.”
The board, however, voted nearly unanimously to approve the development, with just the mayor opposing, because he recognized that water in dry years isn’t available, Markham said.
Third, methods to save water.
Petrocco said farms like his are always looking for ways to save water, and he’s implemented a drip irrigation system instead of the traditional ditch/flood systems.
Travis Bahnsen, president of A1 Organics, said his company is working to drive down the cost of composted soil to the point where farmers could add it to the topsoil of their farms and reduce water usage.
“We take materials that don’t have value to producers (from brewers and slaughter houses, for example) and compost it instead of having it end up in a landfill where it produces methane. Most (of the composted material) goes to bagging companies such as Scotts,” he said. Bahnsen cited studies that show a 20% water reduction is achievable through composting and putting microorganisms into the soil.
“We process it, but the challenge is to find the outlet for the material. We’re hoping agriculture can be an outlet, if we can get it to farms at an economical cost,” he said.
Carolyn Lawrence-Dill, dean of the Colorado State University College of Agriculture, said researchers at CSU need water, too, in order to complete studies on improving soil conditions.
Colorado, she said, has some of the worst soil in the country, especially when compared with places like Iowa, where she spent part of her career.
“Everything we think about at CSU is in terms of sustainability. Not just about soils and food security, but especially about trying to sustain economic prosperity. We do foundational work about plants … (and) how to sustain the industry economically. This year the water situation will be extremely critical; how do we manage water so we can feed the world,” she said.
She cited a study from the 1990s in which ag researchers determined what temperature was optimum for providing irrigated water to a cotton crop, and as a result reduced water usage by 80%.
Jay Ewald, CEO of Northern Feed and Bean, said agriculture is a resilient industry and despite the challenges will figure out a way through.
He noted that “we need to communicate better the real issue of water. Not to scare people but to communicate that it’s a time of choice. Do we want urban development to squeeze out agriculture or do we want a balance,” he asked.
Optimism
While farmers often get a bad rap for complaining — about the weather, urban encroachment, rising production costs and low commodity prices — ag professionals at the roundtable also signaled optimism about the future.
Markham recently retired and turned over his ag operation to the next generation. Petrocco said his family is engaged in those discussions now with hopes of seeing the fifth generation of the family take over the company.
“Wheat is way down. Corn is way down. But cattle prices are the highest we’ve seen. Livestock producers are doing well, and feed costs are reasonable,” Markham said, noting that low commodity prices can mean cheap feed costs, especially if the farmer raises the grain used in the feed.
“Coors has been good to the barley farmers; our new contract is a really good price,” he said.
Petrocco said a federal tax credit available now helps farmers upgrade equipment, and he’s hopeful that the H2A temporary ag worker immigration program will remain viable for operations like his.
Ewald, who spent 40 years in South America among bean producers, said that the bean industry is a growth industry in this country, and “the best pinto beans come from this part of the world.”
His company is also the largest Purina dealer in the country and the largest seller of bean seeds on Amazon.
“The new food triangle (advocated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) is a big win for agriculture. Beans, beef, whole milk are on top of the list. This is a huge, huge win,” Ewald said.
Interest in agriculture, or related industries, appears to be on the rise. The Berthoud Future Farmers of America club is among the largest in the nation, Markham said. And Lawrence-Dill from CSU said the College of Agriculture is growing at 8%-10% per year, faster than any other academic program.
And even the massive growth of cities has a positive side, Petrocco said.
“More people means more customers. We love vegetarians. But I don’t want you running our farm,” he said.
The BizWest CEO Roundtables in Northern Colorado are sponsored by Elevations Credit Union, accounting firm Plante Moran and law firm Berg Hill Greenleaf & Ruscitti LLP.
This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2026 BizWest Media LLC.
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