Mackenzie Sehlke and Lauren Kelso: Boulder’s open space needs farmers. Farmers need housing.

This commentary is by Mackenzie Sehlke, executive director of Boulder County Farmers Markets, a nonprofit dedicated to building a thriving local food system that supports agricultural producers and nourishes the community, and Lauren Kelso, director of the Boulder Center for Food and Agriculture, which advocates for policies that support Boulder County’s farming community, regenerative land use and access to local food.

For decades, Boulder has been nationally recognized for protecting open space. Boulder voters have repeatedly taxed ourselves to preserve farmland, wildlife habitat and the scenic landscapes that define our community. Because of this community investment, we collectively own more than 15,000 acres of open space managed for agriculture through the City of Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) department and another 34,000 acres through Boulder County’s Parks and Open Space (BCPOS) department. 

This publicly owned land plays a quiet, essential role in Boulder’s local food system — particularly for the familiar faces of farmers selling at local markets, supplying our favorite award-winning restaurants and feeding our neighbors through CSAs and farmstands. These producers rely on public land leases to make farming possible in our high-cost region. We, as eaters, rely on both the land and the farmers for local food security. 

The Open Space and Mountain Parks Board of Trustees is reviewing a staff recommendation to sell the Hodges Property, which local producer Lynn Shanahan has farmed under lease. While the details of any single property can be complex, we oppose the disposal of this property and the broader trend toward reducing publicly owned farm infrastructure. 

We invite our community to share thoughts on this issue. Consider writing to the OSMP Board of Trustees to voice your opinion on the Hodges property. If our community wants a thriving local food system and working farms on public land, we must also support onsite housing and the infrastructure necessary to support agricultural production on our collective land.

We are hearing growing concern among farmers about the disposal of housing and farm infrastructure on publicly owned agricultural properties or the disposal of farmland with these assets altogether. In Boulder County, where housing costs are among the highest in the state, on-farm housing can be the difference between whether a farmer can operate here at all. 

Removing or disposing of farm residences may seem like a small administrative decision, but it has ripple effects. Farming is not a 9-to-5 job. Our Front Range farmers respond daily to weather, pests, water management, fire and so many other challenges. Historically, farm properties were designed with housing nearby for exactly this reason. 

Living close to the land allows farmers to actively manage and steward the land, crops and animals. For beginning and next-generation farmers, the challenge is even greater. Access to land is already one of the biggest barriers to entering agriculture. When public farmland loses its housing infrastructure, one of the few remaining pathways into farming becomes even narrower. Boulder has made strong public commitments to climate resilience, local food systems and sustainable land stewardship. These goals depend on farmers being able to maintain healthy soils, manage irrigation water carefully and adapt to changing weather patterns. Those efforts work best when farmers have a stable, long-term relationship with the land — and when they can realistically live nearby. 

None of this diminishes the responsibilities the city faces as a public land manager. OSMP must balance many priorities, from ecological restoration to recreation access to public safety. Maintaining residential structures on public land can involve costs, liability and regulatory considerations. We also commend OSMP staff for the effort they have put into thoughtfully maintaining and managing housing infrastructure over the last few years. But if Boulder wants agriculture to remain a meaningful part of our community, we must be dogged in our commitment to maintaining this essential infrastructure. It isn’t an expendable asset.

The good news is that solutions exist.

Communities across the country are experimenting with models that preserve farm housing while managing public risk. Long-term agricultural leases can include clear stewardship expectations for maintaining residences and buildings. Partnerships with nonprofit organizations or agricultural land trusts can help manage housing while keeping it tied to farming. Some jurisdictions have created dedicated agricultural housing programs to ensure that homes on public farmland remain available to working farmers. These approaches recognize a simple truth: Protecting farmland alone is not enough. A thriving agricultural landscape requires farmers — and farmers need places to live.

Boulder’s open space program has long been admired because it reflects a forward-thinking community willing to invest in land stewardship for the long term. As our region faces growing climate pressures and continued development, that commitment to working lands may be more important, and more challenging, than ever. The question before us is not whether agriculture belongs on Boulder’s open space — our community has already answered that, again and again. The question is whether we will maintain the infrastructure that allows farming to continue. 

Housing may seem like a small detail in the vast landscape of Boulder’s open space system. But for the people who grow food on that land — and for the community that benefits from local agriculture — it can make all the difference.