COLORADO - The Colorado Fruits and Vegetable Association, now coming up on its second anniversary of incorporation, is more than just a collective for fruit and vegetable growers to go to for a question here or there.

Board Member Adrian Card and association President Robert Sakata took the time to tell me about the association’s broad spectrum of objectives to overall aid and improve the produce industry in Colorado, as well as some of the main initiatives it is focusing on in the near future.

“We are a grower-led organization with the intention of helping growers make better business decisions, but we look to help them in other areas as well,” Adrian explains. “We look to help influence food safety, labor and water issues, as well as the outward facing aspect to stimulate more business and the purchase of colorado fruits and vegetables in other areas.”

The association also offers several different partnership and membership options, from fruit and vegetable growers that could seek any aid in business management or networking, to those interested in allied partners with financial partnership interest, to everything in between. Even better, it shares a kinship with Western Growers that allows all members and partners to also have a membership with the Western Growers Association.

“Our President, Robert Sakata, is not only a grower, but also holds a seat with Western Growers, helping to give us a voice with federal pushes, as well as educational activities and other important initiatives and resources that Western Growers provides.”

Robert shared with me that partnerships like the one with Western Growers are how the industry will feed future generations.

“The world has become a very small place. With the challenges that fresh fruit and vegetable farmers face, not only on their own operations but on a global scale, how are we going to feed 9 billion people by 2050? This means that gone are the days where we stand alone,” the association President tells me. “We need to partner across the U.S. and we are very fortunate to have linked with Western Growers.”

The Colorado Fruits and Vegetable Association offers a very broad value proposition for growers and industry members, from business planning and management, to risk management, to help with finding the right labor. The latest focal points, Adrian explains, are helping Colorado growers to find the best field labor channels and to understand.

“Helping growers recruit and retain better qualified farm workers, be that through brokers, contractors, or other qualified resources, and helping them understand how to manage and recruit is one of our top priorities right now,” he tells me.

Working with farms that span anywhere from 2 acres to 2,000, there is not much this association does not cover.

Right now some of Colorado’s main produce includes winter squash, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, apples, carrots, and more.

Colorado Fruits and Vegetable Association