By: Sabina Regmi¹, Rebecca Hill¹, Dawn Thilmany¹, Rebecca Wasserman-Olin¹, Adam Osterholzer² and Punya Nachappa²

¹Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University

²Department of Agricultural Biology, Colorado State University

The wheat stem sawfly (WSS, Cephus cinctus) emerged as a significant threat to winter wheat producers in Colorado in 2010, with the primary concentration of infestations in NE Colorado. Figure 1 shows the average percentage of wheat stem sawfly infestation across Colorado from 2019 to 2024. Infestation was 15% in 2019 and 2020, declined to a low of 7% in 2021, and then increased sharply to 21% in 2022. After a slight decline to 14% in 2023, infestation increased again to 27% in 2024, the highest rate observed in recent history. These fluctuations may reflect variations in weather conditions, crop management practices, or sawfly population dynamics across years. The total economic impact of yield losses due to WSS average approximately $70 million per year over the 2019–2022 period (Wasserman-Olin et al., 2023). If unmanaged, infestations can result in yield losses between 15% and 40%, significant revenue losses on top of the additional costs for implementing various pest management strategies.

Figure 1: Trends in Wheat Stem Sawfly Infestation in Colorado, 2019–2024.
Note: The data is an average of 100 field sites with 100 wheat stems dissected per site.
Download full report below.

By: Sabina Regmi, PhD Student, Willie Wilkins, MS, Rebecca Hill, PhD, Tim. Komarek, PhD

The Park County Fairgrounds in Fairplay, Colorado, is a central gathering place for residents, visitors, and youth programs. It hosts a wide range of activities, including agricultural events, 4-H programs, rodeos, and community celebrations. The site currently includes two arenas, a barn, and a large multi-purpose building with a meeting space, office space, storage space and bathrooms. While these facilities are heavily used, county officials and community members have recognized the need for improvements to better serve today’s needs and future growth. To plan for these improvements, the County developed a master plan outlining potential upgrade, please see longer report for the Park County Fairgrounds Master Plan and current Park County Fair map. Because funding is limited, the upgrades must be completed in phases. This makes it important to understand which buildings and amenities the community values most, so that projects can be prioritized to have the greatest impact.

By: Prasiddha Shakya, Jeff Engell, Timothy M. Komarek, PhD 

The Ute Theater, now known as the Ute Events Center, has been a cultural and economic asset
in Rifle, Colorado since its establishment in 1948. Built with an investment of $100,000, the theater
has undergone multiple renovations, reflecting the community’s dedication to preserving its historical
and cultural value. This report provides a comprehensive overview of the Ute Theater’s historical
background, its economic contributions, and the methodologies used to assess its impact on the local
economy of Rifle and surrounding Garfield County.

By: Nara Chung, PhD Student in Economics, Colorado State University

Active forest management is necessary and beneficial in various perspectives. For example, the forest product industry can utilize harvested trees, turn them into value-added products, and cover the cost of forest management. The purpose of this report is to enhance understanding by the public, state legislators, and stakeholders of economic and community contributions of the forest product industry in Colorado. In addition, the report assesses the economic impact of public grants to this industry in terms of creating economic activities in Colorado’s state economy. The current state of the forest product industry is depicted through industry statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the U.S. Census Bureau. This summary is followed by a detailed economic impact analysis of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wood Innovation Program Grants and an economic contribution analysis that illustrates how exports of this industry can expand economic activities in other industries and at different geographies. The report concludes with a qualitative illustration of additional agricultural and ecological contributions and a discussion of present and emerging trends with new technologies to complement the formal economic analysis and highlight additional contributions.

AUTHORS
Henry Williams, PhD Student in Economics,Colorado State University
Willie Wilkins, MS, Mountain Regional Specialist Expanded Rural Engagement- Vibrant Communities
Colorado State University Extension
Rebecca Hill, PhD, Extension Professor Co-Director of the Colorado AgrAbility Project, Colorado State University Extension

This report will detail the economic impact for Fremont County of the Pathfinder Event Center.
Section 1 provides background on the Pathfinder Event Center, briefly describes the methodology
used, and summarizes results. Section 2 elaborates on the methodology used for estimating economic
impact. Section 3 reviews the primary results. Section 4 concludes.

Opened in 2022, Pathfinder Event Center is an event venue located in Florence, CO. It serves
Fremont County as well as the surrounding area. The venue features an outdoor arena, covered arena,
auditorium, commercial kitchen, small pavilion, meeting room, and classroom. Common events held
at the Center include weddings, rodeos, 4-H events, Colorado Outdoorsmen Days, craft fairs and
funerals. Additionally, Pathfinder hosts the Colorado State University Extension Office for Fremont
County.

In 2022, Delta County and the CSU’s Regional Economic Development Institute (REDI) invested Economic Development Administration (EDA) Grant funds to explore how the Western Slope might develop fruit and vegetable value-added manufacturing infrastructure that allows producers to derive value from produce that is less-than-perfect for sale while reducing farm food waste. Based on discussions with local growers, produce dehydration showed the potential, but there were concerns that a new facility was not financially feasible. Based on strong community networks, an innovative pilot was organized with the West Slope Branch of the Food Bank of the Rockies (FBR) and five fruit growers to test whether a nonprofit organization could manufacture product for growers using a fee-for-service model, without disrupting its mission.  FBR is the only food bank in the national Feeding America network to have a dehydration program (upgraded in December 2022), so it felt timely to pilot a new model. The long-term goal is to create another value-added fruit processing option in Western Colorado for the purposes of diversifying local produce options, reducing on-farm food waste, and to elevate and diversify the FBR shelf-stable produce offerings for hunger relief. The Dehydration Handbook is a product of this pilot and provides a summary of the basic concepts to consider when creating a dehydration program as a licensed manufacturer as well as key takeaways from the pilot project overall.

Rebecca Hill, Matt Burkard, Larry Brown, and Jim Clare

The Southern Rocky Mountain Agricultural Conference (SRMAC) has been taking place in Monte Vista for 41 years. It is unique among agricultural shows in that it began strictly as an educational event and is one of the few that remains a true educational event, now married with what has grown into a significant agricultural trade show. The conference serves the farming and ranching communities with education topics ranging from water saving production practices and latest research findings to legislative and market updates, and from financial management and estate planning to soil health and farm family health. It also serves as a major peer to peer networking opportunity and connects ag producers directly to ag service and supply businesses. The conference brings in a variety of individuals from Colorado and other states. These individuals spend dollars in the local communities and those dollars support local industries and provide broader economic impacts to the community. The community recently made a major investment in building a new facility with both conference and large event capabilities, at which the SRMAC is hosted. This gives the valley a premier facility to host many events and activities. Given the recent investment in the facility and the economic impacts that this conference has on the local community, the SRMAC committee reached out to the Regional Economic Development Institute (REDI) to conduct a study to quantify the economic impacts the conference has on Monte Vista, Alamosa, and the larger San Luis Valley region.

This study quantifies the economic impacts of the SRMAC conference and explores what is important to conference participants and vendors. To evaluate the economic impacts, we developed and conducted two surveys, one survey targeted conference participants and speakers and the other targeted at the conference vendors. In addition, we collected expenditure information from the conference organizers and incorporated those expenditures into the analysis. Each survey gathered information on participants’ expenditures in the community and the region as well as general information on their conference experience. The survey was conducted from February 7th – 9th, 2023 during all three days of the conference. Surveys were administered by Adams State Students, One Colorado State University Graduate Student, and a Colorado State University Extension Professor. Each surveyor was given a surveyor number so that checks to ensure consistency across all surveys in the sample could be conducted. Sample participant responses were aggregated to the entire population of conference participants using registration data given by the SRMAC conference board. All conference vendors were surveyed so no aggregation from sample to population was needed for the vendor survey.

Organizers of the Southern Rocky Mountain Agricultural Conference (SRMAC) reached out to us to help them understand the economic impacts of this important event on the community of Monte Vista as well as the larger region. They are also interested in understanding how the community can increase the economic impacts that the community retains from this event.  We conducted an economic impact analysis, produced a white paper and made several presentations in the community to the San Luis Valley Commissioners as well as the Monte Vista Chamber of Commerce.

The San Luis Valley conducted a community food assessment this year but did not have enough budget or human resources on their team to thoroughly collect and analyze the data needed to form the community food assessment. We were able to not only serve on the steering committee for this process, but also assist them with the community discussions and theme analysis of the data. The purpose of this project was to explore the impact of the food system on health, economic opportunity, and quality of life for the region. In addition, the project allowed them to discover potential projects and priorities for the region. A goal of this project was to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice in the food system and to assist in strategic planning such as the creation of an emergency food plan, identify economic opportunities and gaps as well as collect and summarize relevant secondary data. The final report for this project is available at the link below:

Originally, Delta County prioritized a feasibility study to explore an Individual Quick Frozen (IQF) plant for their producers who had seconds and were interested in creating a new value-added market.  The initial study showed little promise, but we still had resources for implementation, so we decided to explore other options.  Since Delta County had identified the frozen and dehydrated market as a potential new market channel for fresh products out of the region and they are looking to develop marketing and production implementation plans to bring together the right operational and ownership partners in a public-private partnership effort, we let potential producer-partners help to identify new directions.

• The Food Bank was supported through a cost-share on purchase of equipment needed to expand dehydration, labeling for markets and the labor to conduct and track data on test batches.
• Four producers had the chance to pilot production. They were compensated for their product as a means to account for the time they spent setting up logistics and tracking data for the pilot.
• The consumer feedback surveys on individual dehydrated products were conducted throughout November and December at the CSU SPUR campus in Denver (photo below). A technical report on findings is being shared with producers in Spring 2024 and stay tuned for a summary report on the CSU REDI website later in 2024.

Water and conservation issues are at the front of mind in the SLV region and a variety of conservation options will be important to solving problems going forward. Climate smart grants are being awarded across the state and CSU is involved in four of these projects. This research will help the SLV compare different conservation options available to them. In the project we explore how farmers will adopt climate smart or conservation practices and how these conservation payments might affect the regional economy (with a specific focus on the SLV region or Colorado). This research project resulted in a Master’s Technical Paper by David Rice entitled, “Tradeoffs across Proposed Soil Carbon Solutions, Implications for Water Use”.

The Bureau of Land Management reached out asking for technical assistance to help them explore the economic impacts of a land purchase on the Yampa River which would expand recreational opportunities and protect critical habitat in the area. Results of this analysis will help them communicate to local stakeholders the economic implications on the region if they were to purchase the land and to weigh the different options available to them. This project ended in a completed Master’s Thesis by Matt Burkard entitled, “The Economic Contribution of River Recreation on the Little Yampa Canyon, Colorado”. The Yampa River is a key driver of outdoor recreation opportunities in the Craig community. Opportunities to enhance access are important to this region to diversify its economic portfolio considering transitions occurring in the energy and agricultural sectors. This research provides information for stakeholders on the economic implications of a land acquisition proposal by the Bureau of Land Management to expand public access to the Little Yampa Canyon.

For a short, outreach-oriented summary of results, a 2023 REDI report can be accessed here:

The Economic Contribution of River-Based Recreation in the Little Yampa Canyon, Colorado

• The Economic Contribution of River Recreation and Tourism in the Little Yampa Canyon, Colorado (Matt Burkard, Thesis), focused on the San Luis Valley region.  BELOW:

The Trust for Public Lands reached out to our team to better understand the economic impacts of this brand-new state park, Fishers Peak in Trinidad, Colorado. Of particular interest to them as well as the city and other community stakeholders was how the development of the park impacts individuals from underserved backgrounds and the distributional effects of the economic impacts from the park. This research culminated in a completed master’s thesis entitled, “Exploring the Overall, Distributional and Resiliency Implications of Investments in Rural Outdoor Tourism:  The Case of Fishers Peak State Park”.  The study highlighted the potential the new state park offers to boost the economy of Las Animas County.  It also highlights that traditionally economic benefits to regions from new tourism opportunities are not experienced equally by all members of the community and explores the overall distribution income effects of the State Park.  It offers insights into how different development approaches may affect community outcomes.  The timing of this study is such that the park planners can incorporate the lessons into the future planning for the state park and affiliated economic development initiatives and investments.

• Exploring the Overall Distributional and Resiliency Implications of Investments in Rural Outdoor Tourism: The Case of Fishers Peak State Park (Skyler Shuck, Thesis), focused on San Luis Valley region.