LA SALLE — Despite encroaching suburbia, Weld County this year remains among the top 10 places in the nation in agricultural production.
A federal census report conducted every five years ranks Weld as the No. 8 agricultural county nationally, with a market value for its products at $1.54 billion.
Weld is the only county outside of California in the top 10.
In Colorado, Weld leads in 16 of 27 categories listed in the 2007 Census of Agriculture. There are also new markets opening up in Weld, including a Leprino Foods plant that will start operating in 2011 and in need of 7 million pounds of milk per day.
But there is plenty of room to be gloomy in a county twice the size of Delaware. Just ask Jim Miller, the 70-year-old owner of Miller Feedlots just north of La Salle.
“I just don’t see much of a future in agriculture here,” said Miller, whose commercial feed lot prepares about 15,000 head of cattle for slaughter on 160 acres.
Miller says he and other cattle producers are being ground down by environmental demands, court decisions that limit access to their irrigation wells, and the unpredictability of consumer trends.
To meet stipulations to reduce dust and groundwater contamination at his operation, he spends $25,000 to $50,000 annually. One year, Miller’s environmental price tag was $250,000 to redo his lagoon.
“I just think environmental factors will drive most kids out of agriculture,” Miller said.
The one son who followed Miller into cattle production was 39-year-old Clark, whose own children don’t seem interested in tilling the soil.
“I don’t think anything good is coming down the pike for agriculture,” Clark Miller said.
The 2007 Census of Agriculture shows that of the $1.54 billion produced by Weld County, $1.26 billion is from livestock and $272.7 million from crops. The closest Colorado county to Weld in terms of market value is Yuma, with $711.3 million.
The growth in the number of farms in Weld — from 3,121 in 2002 to 3,921 — has been fueled by the government’s counting more smaller farms, said Keith Maxey, Colorado State University extension agent for Weld County.
“You have people moving out from the city but who want to keep a flavor of the country, so they raise a couple of cows, some sheep, in a parcel of about 20 acres,” Maxey said. “But people in the business say that’s not really farming.”
Local politicians have a pretty good idea how much farming still means to the economies of towns in Weld County, Maxey added. But a chunk of the general population, especially the younger generation, probably does not, he said.
“There are a lot of younger people who likely have no idea,” Maxey said, “what goes on not far from their own back door.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
