Last week, our presenter was Dr Stacy Lischka, Executive Director of Poudre Valley Community Farms (PVCF), a local farming and conservation non-profit dedicated to helping Northern Colorado farmers and ranchers raise food for local consumption by connecting them to land and water. She very successfully “winged it” without slides until the projector arrived a short time after the start of her talk. She described the work as “at the intersection of conservation, food and community”. Her first slide was a map of Northern Colorado showing a ring around the cities of Ft Collins, Greeley and Loveland indicating the surrounding farmland at risk of becoming “something else”.  The latest example of this happening is the 3-acre Bucky’s gas station, which permanently removed 180 acres of rich farmland (in Larimer County we lose 2500 acres of farmland each year to other uses).  And we lose the sense of open spaces, separation of our cities and part of our agricultural heritage.  We also may lose the farmers! READ MORE...