Agriculture & Rural Colorado | Chris Richardson | Colorado House District 56 

“Agriculture is more than an industry. It is a way of life, a commitment to stewardship, and the foundation of the communities I am honored to represent.” 

Learn how Representative Chris Richardson is working to protect Colorado agriculture, rural communities, water, private property, livestock producers, and family farms. 

Agriculture Deserves a Seat at the Table—Not a Target on Its Back

Agriculture is not an abstract policy topic in House District 56.

It is the farmer checking wheat after a hailstorm, the rancher watching over cattle through a bitter winter night, the family balancing operating loans against uncertain commodity prices, and the young producer deciding whether there is still a future on the land.

It is also the local equipment dealer, veterinarian, feed supplier, truck driver, banker, auction barn, grocery store, school, hospital, and Main Street business that depends on the success of nearby farms and ranches.

As a resident of Elbert County and Vice President of the Elbert County Farm Bureau, I have seen firsthand that agriculture is both an economic engine and the cultural backbone of rural Colorado.

My responsibility in the legislature is to make certain that the people who produce our food, fiber, fuel, and other essential goods are heard before state government imposes policies that affect their land, water, animals, employees, and livelihoods.

Too often, agricultural policy is written by people who have never had to make a payroll after a crop failure, haul water during a drought, repair equipment during harvest, or protect livestock from predators.

That disconnect leads to regulations that may sound reasonable in Denver but can be costly, impractical, or damaging on the ground.

I believe agriculture deserves respect, predictability, and a genuine voice in every decision that affects rural Colorado.

Why Agriculture Matters to House District 56

House District 56 includes some of Colorado’s most productive agricultural regions.

Across Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson, and Lincoln Counties—and the rural portions of Adams, Arapahoe, and El Paso Counties—producers raise cattle and calves, grow wheat, corn, millet, sorghum, sunflowers, hay, and other crops, and support a broad network of agribusinesses and rural institutions.

The most recent comprehensive USDA Census of Agriculture found approximately 38,000 farms and ranches covering about 31 million acres in Colorado. The Colorado Department of Agriculture reports that agribusiness contributes roughly $47 billion to the state economy and supports more than 195,000 jobs.

Those statewide figures are important, but agriculture’s local impact is even more visible in rural communities.

Farm and ranch income circulates through:

• equipment and vehicle dealerships;

• seed, fertilizer, feed, and chemical suppliers;

• trucking and logistics companies;

• veterinarians and animal-health providers;

• banks and insurance agencies;

• repair, welding, and construction businesses;

• processors, elevators, and livestock markets;

• schools, hospitals, fire districts, and local governments.

When agriculture succeeds, entire communities benefit.

When producers struggle, the effects reach far beyond the farm gate.

A Business Unlike Any Other

Farming and ranching require enormous investments in land, equipment, livestock, seed, fuel, water, and labor, months or years before a producer knows what the final return will be.

Unlike many businesses, farmers and ranchers cannot fully control the price they receive for their product.

They operate within markets influenced by weather, international trade, transportation systems, interest rates, consumer demand, disease, input costs, and federal policy.

USDA projects total U.S. farm-sector production expenses of approximately $477.7 billion in 2026, about $4.6 billion higher in nominal terms than its 2025 forecast. Livestock purchases, feed, and labor remain among the largest expense categories.

But, headline reports of stronger national farm income can also hide the reality facing individual families.

USDA forecasts that the median income earned directly from farming by farm households will remain negative in 2026, meaning many families continue to depend substantially on off-farm employment to support the farm operation and household.

That is why lawmakers should be cautious about assuming that higher commodity prices or strong statewide sales figures automatically mean every producer is prospering.

Gross sales are not the same as profit.

A farm can generate significant revenue and still struggle after paying for fuel, fertilizer, livestock, equipment, repairs, land, insurance, labor, taxes, and financing.

My Principles

Producers Know Their Land Best

Farmers and ranchers live with the consequences of their decisions. They understand their soil, water, livestock, weather, and local conditions better than distant regulators.

Government has an appropriate role in protecting public health, natural resources, and neighboring property. But policy should begin with cooperation, sound science, and respect for those who work the land.

Voluntary, incentive-based conservation generally produces better and more durable results than top-down mandates.

Private Property Rights Must Be Protected

The right to own, use, improve, and pass property to the next generation is fundamental to agriculture.

That right is threatened when government restricts land use without proper compensation, uses condemnation too aggressively, imposes burdensome setbacks, or allows infrastructure projects to proceed without meaningful local review.

Farmers and ranchers should not be treated as convenient hosts for projects whose costs are imposed locally while benefits flow elsewhere.

I support due process, fair compensation, local authority, and genuine consideration of impacts on agricultural operations.

Water Is Agriculture’s Lifeblood

There is no agricultural future without reliable access to water. Colorado must protect prior appropriation, defend existing water rights, expand storage, reduce unnecessary losses, and recognize the connection between irrigated agriculture and rural community survival.

Water policy must also account for groundwater sustainability in areas dependent on the Ogallala Aquifer and surface-water needs in the South Platte and Arkansas River basins. The answer cannot simply be to dry up agriculture to accommodate urban growth.

“Buy and dry” transfers may provide short-term water supplies, but they can permanently damage tax bases, local businesses, wildlife habitat, food production, and the identity of rural communities.

Colorado must pursue solutions that allow cities and agriculture to coexist.

Regulation Must Reflect Agricultural Reality

Agriculture is seasonal, weather-dependent, and often unpredictable.

A rigid workplace rule designed for a year-round urban business may not fit harvest, calving, planting, irrigation, or emergency livestock care.

The same is true for vehicle regulations, environmental reporting, equipment standards, and permitting deadlines.

Agriculture should not be exempt from every rule, but it deserves rules that recognize how production actually works.

Before imposing a mandate, lawmakers should ask:

• Can producers realistically comply?

• Will it improve safety or environmental outcomes?

• What will it cost?

• Will it disadvantage Colorado producers against competitors in other states?

• Will it accelerate consolidation by making it harder for family operations to survive?

Animal Agriculture Must Be Defended

Colorado’s livestock producers provide safe, nutritious food while caring for animals, land, and water. They should not be portrayed as enemies of the environment or public health.

I oppose efforts to eliminate lawful animal agriculture through indirect regulation, ballot-box mandates, land-use restrictions, or politically driven appointments. Consumers should have choices, but those choices must include meat, dairy, and other animal products produced by Colorado farmers and ranchers.

Agriculture should be guided by veterinary science, proven husbandry practices, and producer experience—not ideological hostility toward livestock production.

Wolves and Rural Communities

Colorado’s wolf-reintroduction policy remains one of the clearest examples of urban political decisions imposing costs and risks on rural residents. Livestock producers did not create this policy, but they are expected to live with its consequences.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife states that nonlethal conflict reduction is the preferred response to wolf-livestock conflicts. Producers seeking authorization to injuriously haze or lethally take a wolf must generally document repeated depredation and meet agency requirements before permission is granted.

Those procedures may sound orderly on paper, but livestock attacks do not occur on a government timetable.

A rancher facing an active attack should not have to navigate an uncertain bureaucratic process before protecting livestock, working dogs, or personal safety.

Compensation is also not a complete answer.

A payment for a confirmed dead animal does not necessarily cover:

• loss of genetics;

• reduced weight gain;

• interrupted grazing;

• veterinary expenses;

• reproductive loss;

• added labor;

• fencing and deterrence costs;

• stress on animals;

• or the emotional burden placed on families.

Colorado should provide prompt, full, and fair compensation while giving livestock owners practical authority to address chronic depredation.

The people bearing the greatest consequences must have a meaningful voice in how wolves are managed.

Family Farms and the Next Generation

The future of agriculture depends on whether the next generation can afford to enter it.

High land prices, equipment costs, interest rates, operating expenses, and regulatory uncertainty create formidable barriers for young and beginning producers.

The average size of American farms has increased while the total number of farms has declined, and family-owned farms continue to account for the overwhelming majority of operations nationally. The USDA’s 2022 Census found that family-owned and operated farms represented 95 percent of U.S. farms and operated 84 percent of farmland.

That matters because agriculture is not just about acres or production totals. It is about continuity. It is about whether a family can transfer knowledge, land, livestock, and responsibility from one generation to the next.

Colorado should help beginning producers through:

• improved access to capital;

• agricultural education;

• mentoring and succession planning;

• practical tax policy;

• reduced licensing and regulatory barriers;

• expanded vocational and technical training;

• protection of agricultural land and water;

• and support for value-added production and local processing.

We should also recognize that many farm families rely on off-farm work, often because healthcare and household expenses cannot be supported by farm income alone.

Strong rural hospitals, broadband, schools, roads, and local businesses are therefore agricultural policy as well.

Rural Infrastructure

Agriculture depends on infrastructure that urban residents may rarely consider.

Producers need roads and bridges capable of carrying heavy equipment, livestock trailers, grain trucks, and agricultural inputs.

They need dependable electricity for irrigation, ventilation, refrigeration, pumping, and processing. They need broadband for marketing, equipment diagnostics, commodity information, banking, regulatory filings, precision agriculture, and emergency communications. They need rail and highway systems that connect rural production to domestic and international markets. And they need hospitals, emergency services, schools, and housing capable of supporting workers and families.

When state government neglects rural infrastructure, agriculture becomes less competitive and rural communities lose population and opportunity.

I will continue advocating for transportation and infrastructure policy that recognizes eastern Colorado as an economic producer—not merely an area people drive through.

My Record and Responsibilities

My approach to agricultural policy is grounded in both personal experience and public service.

As a former Elbert County Commissioner, I worked directly with landowners, water interests, local governments, transportation planners, emergency services, and rural businesses.

As Vice President of the Elbert County Farm Bureau, I remain engaged with producers and grassroots agricultural policy.

In the legislature, I have supported measures that:

• recognize and protect traditional agricultural practices;

• strengthen livestock and brand enforcement;

• improve agricultural labeling and consumer transparency;

• support rural hospitals and essential community services;

• protect private property and local decision-making;

• improve emergency access and rural infrastructure;

• and resist mandates that place unreasonable costs on farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses.

I supported legislation requiring clear labeling of cell-cultivated meat so consumers can distinguish it from products raised and harvested through traditional animal agriculture.

I have also consistently raised concerns about policies involving wolves, agricultural labor, water transfers, land-use preemption, transmission corridors, and regulations developed without adequate producer input.

My standard is straightforward:

"Does this policy help producers remain productive, competitive, and able to pass their operations to the next generation, or does it make that future harder?"

A Better Direction for Colorado Agriculture

Colorado should pursue an agricultural policy based on partnership rather than prescription. That means:

• involving producers before policies are drafted;

• using reliable science and practical field experience;

• emphasizing voluntary conservation;

• protecting water and property rights;

• maintaining roads, bridges, energy systems, and broadband;

• providing meaningful predator-management tools;

• strengthening domestic and local processing capacity;

• expanding agricultural education and skilled-workforce programs;

• supporting fair markets and honest labeling;

• reviewing regulations for cumulative cost;

• and recognizing that food security begins with financially sustainable farms and ranches.

Colorado can support environmental stewardship without treating producers as adversaries. In fact, farmers and ranchers are among the state’s most experienced conservationists. Their livelihoods depend on healthy soil, available water, productive grasslands, sound livestock, and long-term care of the land.

A policy that drives family agriculture out of business is not environmentally sustainable. It simply transfers production elsewhere—often to places with fewer protections and less transparency.

Key Facts

Colorado Agriculture

• Agribusiness contributes approximately $47 billion annually to Colorado’s economy.

• The sector supports more than 195,000 jobs statewide.

• Colorado has roughly 38,000 farms and ranches.

• Those operations cover approximately 31 million acres.

My Priorities

• Protect agricultural water

• Defend private property rights

• Preserve local control

• Support livestock producers

• Improve wolf-management policy

• Reduce unnecessary regulations

• Strengthen roads, bridges, broadband, and rural healthcare

• Support young and beginning producers

• Promote transparent food labeling

• Expand agricultural and technical education

• Protect farmers and ranchers from unfair liability

• Keep Colorado agriculture competitive

Related Issues

• Water & Natural Resources

• Businesses & Jobs

• Cost of Living & Affordability

• Transportation & Infrastructure

• Local Control & Property Rights

• Affordable Rural Health Care

Closing

The people who grow our food and care for our land are not asking government for special treatment. They are asking for a fair chance.

They want rules that make sense, markets that function, property rights that are respected, water that remains available, roads that can carry their products, and the freedom to make decisions based on generations of knowledge and experience. They want their children to have the opportunity to continue the work.

Agriculture helped build Colorado, and it continues to feed, employ, and sustain our state.

My commitment is to ensure that farmers, ranchers, and rural communities are not forgotten, dismissed, or overruled by people who do not understand the consequences of their decisions.

I will continue working to protect the land, water, livestock, families, and communities that make rural Colorado strong.