Poudre Valley Community Farms is, at its core, a land cooperative.  By harnessing the power of member-owner investment and combining it with creative financing techniques such as conservation easements and community partnerships the cooperative buys and owns farmland. We are also working with the City of Fort Collins as a leasing agent to provide city-owned land to local farmers and ranchers at competitive market rates.

How it Works

The vehicle for achieving PVCF’s mission is a multi-stakeholder cooperative.  First, let’s consider the more familiar but less important parts of PVCF.  Think of a traditional consumer cooperative, like a food co-op, where consumers pool their buying power to purchase products at better prices.  Now think of a traditional producer cooperative, like most farmers’ cooperatives, that pool buying power and access to distributors and consumers to benefit the producer.  Now put the two together and you have an understanding of the LESS important parts of PVCF.

Now consider the third, and MOST important, part of the PVCF cooperative model. Consumers and producers contribute capital through their membership dues which is used to purchase farmland and to build necessary infrastructure on properties owned by PVCF as well as land leased from the City of Fort Collins. The long-term access to farmland to produce food is the key to this land cooperative model.

Membership

Interested in supporting long-term, affordable access to land and preserving farmland landscapes in our community? Join us! Visit the Become A Member page to learn more about what it means to be a member and how to apply.

Funding Land Purchases

The funding sources for PVCF projects are not limited to only the membership dues of our member-owners. For each project, PVCF explores a wide variety of funding sources to ensure the success of the land purchase, including:

• Coop Membership Dues
• Donations
• Partner investments
• Conservation Easements (where appropriate)