Colorado State University is a land-grant university and its Extension program has an active Food Systems team that has supported COFSAC for over 10 years.
Colorado is home to a diverse agricultural and natural resource land base. Colorado agricultural products generate nearly $8 billion in revenues, with nearly two-thirds of this generated from the beef and dairy cattle industries. Additionally, over 35% of Colorado’s land resources are designated public land, which provides innovative approaches to managing plains and mountain ecosystems within agricultural, outdoor recreation, and tourism contexts. Even with a robust agricultural and state economy, hunger and nutrition insecurity and significant health disparities exist in Colorado. While Colorado’s white adults remain the leanest in the nation, Colorado ranks in the middle of all states for childhood obesity and people of color consistently report lower fruit and vegetable intake than White Coloradans as well as higher rates of food insecurity and chronic diseases.
This position will work to coordinate the primary activities of the Colorado Food System Advisory Council (COFSAC) that has a mission to advance recommendations that strengthen healthy food access for all Coloradans through Colorado agriculture and local food systems and economies (https://cofoodsystemscouncil.org/).