A state map on Kate Greenberg’s office wall is dotted with stick pins: red for where she’s been and blue for where she’s going.
“I have to add some more pins,” Greenberg said after taking a closer look at the map.
As state agriculture commissioner, Greenberg wants to travel to as many places as possible. She has also mapped out a set of four major priorities and relishes detailing them.
“Are you ready for the next one?” Greenberg asks as she dives into discussing her priorities. “Are you ready for No. 3? Are you ready for No. 4?”
The road Greenberg traveled to her new job as Colorado ag commissioner is different from most of her immediate predecessors, many of whom grew up farming and ranching. Greenberg did not.
Besides her background, Greenberg is different from her predecessors in an even more fundamental way. She is the first woman to hold the job in the state’s history.
Greenberg grew up in Minnesota, was around agriculture and had friends and neighbors who farmed and ranched. However, it wasn’t until she moved to eastern Washington state that she farmed and ranched herself. There and in western Washington, Greenberg raised vegetables and livestock on community-supported farms. While with the Sonoran Institute, Greenberg worked with communities on restoration projects and managed greenhouse operations.
Most recently, Greenberg was the Western Program Director for the National Young Farmers Coalition, working on water issues and based in Durango. She graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., with a degree in environmental studies-humanities.
“I’ve always loved and worked on behalf of the outdoors, natural world,” Greenberg said. “The piece that really shifted when I came West was realizing the work people put in behind the scenes.
“I was just drawn to it. I was drawn to the hard work. I was drawn to the people,” Greenberg added. “The big eye-opening moment for me, that a lot of folks who get into ag later have had, is that it’s not just the incredible amount of work it takes to grow food, but it’s the live-giving aspect of being in agriculture.”
She wants to ensure that agriculture remains vital by supporting the next generation of farmers and ranchers.
“We don’t have enough young people coming into agriculture, which means not only do we risk losing the legacy of the current generation, the assets, but also the land,” Greenberg said. “We are really at a fork in the road with the aging demographic overall of farmers, paired with the economics of farming right now.”
Agriculture contributes about $40 billion annually to the state’s economy, Greenberg said, making it the second-largest sector of the state’s economy.
In addition to keeping agriculture economically viable, another focus for Greenberg is providing more opportunities for farmers and ranchers.
On the job since January, when she was appointed by Gov. Jared Polis, Greenberg has launched a comprehensive initiative that will include several state agencies and experts to help grow and promote Colorado’s hemp industry. Under the 2018 federal farm bill, which legalized hemp production, states can regulate production or let the U.S. Department to Agriculture do it.
Nurturing Colorado’s already robust hemp industry falls under the priority that Greenberg refers to as “supporting high-value agriculture and diverse market opportunities.” The other areas of focus she has identified are:
- Promoting stewardship, stressing soil health, water and dealing with the effects of climate change
- Addressing the mental health issues of farmers and ranchers as they grappled with low commodity prices, rising costs and the fallout from the federal government’s trade disputes with other countries.
As she has gotten to know her department — which has eight divisions — and staff –made up of 300 employees — Greenberg said she hasn’t thought a lot about being the first female agriculture commissioner.
“It’s an honor to be in this job, no matter what,” Greenberg said. But, “I feel proud to be a woman in this role. Women are always a part of agriculture. They’re drivers of the ag economy. Many are decision makers.”
If anything comes of her being the first female commissioner, Greenberg said she hopes that it becomes an open door “for many more women, especially young women, to see themselves in positions of leadership and to know that if they are in agriculture, they already are” leaders.
Dale McCall, president of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union board of directors, said he’s glad that one of Greenberg’s priorities is supporting young farmers and ranchers. The average age of Colorado farmers is roughly 58, and high land prices and low commodity prices are making it tough for younger people to even go into agriculture, he said.
McCall is also pleased that Polis and Greenberg will carry on implementing a statewide water plan approved during the John Hickenlooper administration and aimed at accommodating Colorado’s growing water needs.
And McCall, whose family farms in Yuma County, said the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union has co-sponsored listening sessions with Greenberg so she can learn more about operations in eastern Colorado. Greenberg moved to the Denver area from southwestern Colorado.
“Those sessions have been real successful. She’s a good listener and she’s taken back input,” McCall said. “She does have a lot to learn, but she admits that and she really wants to learn. We’re encouraged that she’s really reaching out and spending a lot of time external to get to know agriculture better throughout the state.”
Greenberg is taking over as agriculture commissioner as trade disputes between the U.S. and China are escalating. China recently targeted American agricultural exports after the Trump administration raised tariffs in response to concerns about China’s trade practices.
Don Shawcroft,) Colorado Farm Bureau president and a San Luis Valley cattle rancher, said trade and keeping international markets open are vital to keeping agriculture profitable. He wants to see state officials keep the issue in front of elected officials.
Shawcroft would also like to see the Polis administration continue the focus on statewide water issues, whether that means appointing a water “czar,” as Hickelooper did, or raising the profile of the Interbasin Compact Committee.
Last year’s debilitating drought that left little of Colorado unscathed has disappeared under a far-above-normal snowpack. But Greenberg knows that can change.
“We’re out of drought, technically speaking,” Greenberg said. “I want to emphasize the technically speaking because next year, who knows?”
As for tariffs, Greenberg said, “We’re certainly not stepping on the feet of the federal government in trade negotiations.”
However, the Colorado Agriculture Department is looking at opportunities in various countries, is working with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture and will work with farmers and rancher to diversify their products.
“To the extent that we can open up more markets for more producers to have more options, the less we’ll be beholden to the swings that are out of our control,” Greenberg said.
