Restore Colorado is public-private collaboration to improve resilience and tackle climate change through food and healthy soil on local farms and ranches. With support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production, Boulder County is collaborating with Mad Agriculture, Zero Foodprint, and other local governments to engage with and build connections between the agricultural and restaurant communities.
Restore Colorado
What is Restore Colorado?
Consumers contribute to the Restore Colorado fund a few cents at a time, through an optional 1% fee at participating restaurants and food businesses. Zero Foodprint then distributes the Restore Colorado fund to local farmers and ranchers for climate beneficial practices overseen by Mad Agriculture.
Restore Colorado grants are available for spreading compost on depleted soil, cover cropping, technical assistance, and more –whether a producer is already practicing regenerative agriculture, or just taking their first steps toward carbon farming.
Current Projects
Project Drawdown estimates that each dollar invested in the kinds of projects funded by Restore Colorado, can yield many dollars of public benefit and long-term farm profitability. Carbon farming also saves money by making the region more resilient to climate-related weather events like flooding and fire.
Restore Colorado’s first pilot projects will be at McCauley Family Farm and Esoterra Culinary Garden. Models developed by Colorado State University scientists predict the McCauley project will remove 300 tons of carbon from the atmosphere, equal to not burning over 33,000 gallons of gas.
How to Get Involved
Restaurants interested in participating in Restore Colorado can email info@zerofoodprint.org or visit www.zerofoodprint.org for more information.
Farms and agricultural producers interested in participating in Restore Colorado can email connect@madagriculture.org or visit www.madagriculture.org for more information.
