The Rocky Mountain Agricultural Landowners Guide is the product of a unique partnership between American Farmland Trust and Coleman Natural Foods through the Coleman Eco-Project 2015, a 10-year relationship that addresses the critical need to protect U.S. working farms and ranches. In this guide, you will find information outlining tools and federal and state programs to help farmers and ranchers conserve their land and maintain its long-term health for future generations.
American Farmland Trust (AFT) is a nonprofit organization that works across the nation with partner organizations, communities and individuals to protect the best land, keep it healthy and plan for the future of agriculture. Coleman Natural Foods (CNF), the leading natural and organic meat and poultry company in the United States, shares with AFT a commitment to protect family-owned ranches and farms and advance a holistic approach to land stewardship. The goal of the AFT– CNF partnership is to facilitate the placement of 50 million acres of farm and ranch land under sound stewardship and sustainable management practices by 2015. “We’ve undertaken our land-based eco-system program to improve and preserve our environment, and keep working lands in their highest and best use,” said Mel Coleman Jr. “This challenge is on behalf of today’s generation of Americans and for many more generations to follow.”
The Coleman family has a long and rich history in western ranching. In 1875, one year before the Colorado Territory became the 38th state, the Colemans began ranching in the grasslands of Saguache. A pioneering spirit of conservation and protecting the land, handed down through the generations, was at the center of Mel Coleman Sr.’s vision. In 1979, Mel Sr. founded Coleman Natural Meats, the firstever enterprise to raise and market natural beef for the general public.
Twenty-six years later, Coleman Natural Foods has grown into a family of natural and certified organic meats that includes beef, pork, poultry, sausage, lamb and bison. Its practices set the standard for quality, flavor and integrity, and Coleman continues to broaden its legacy by expanding and promoting the economic, environmental and consumer-centered values of natural and organic meat production.
