City of Boulder OSMP Bidding Process
As many of you know, the City of Boulder, along with Boulder County, own the majority of agricultural land in our area and they lease this land out to farmers who manage it. Yet we have uncovered major corruption (or serious disfunction at the very least) in the way the land allocation process is handled. This is a serious issue and it’s doing damage to our environment, a disservice to the people of Boulder and is seriously hurting local farms like ours.
Recently there have been a number of public processes to determine the will of the people and the results have been very clear. Our community values farms that are sustainable, ecologically focused and which serve the local market.
Over the past several years our farm, Jacob Springs Farm, has submitted bid proposals for a total of 11 properties, all within one mile of our farm (land prices are so high and the city owns so much of the agricultural land that it’s very difficult to expand without working with the city.) Time and time again our well-researched and extensive proposals have been turned down in favor of other, less sustainable and less desirable farms. For years we have attempted to find out what we could do to make our proposals more attractive. City staff have told us that our bids themselves were fine, and then proceeded to give us a variety of reasons why we were not awarded the bid - reasons that ranged from questionable to illegally discriminatory (City staff “gave it to them because they come from an “old farm family” - whereas I, an immigrant, came to Boulder as a child - discrimination based on ancestry).
For several years we asked to see what the winning bids looked like, so that we could improve our proposals in the future, (winning bids are supposed to be public record) however our requests have been ignored. This year, confused and puzzled at being denied once again I escalated the request. When I finally received some of the bids that won out over our own, I was shocked and confused, here are some of the lowlights:
1. A conventional farmer with over 2,000 acres turned in a sloppy one-page proposal to grow hay for horses using conventional synthetic fertilizers and pesticide applications, his bids collectively were for $5,500 annual rent. Our extensive bid was for $10,600 and proposed the highest standard of ecological and regenerative management and diversified production, we lost. 2. Another conventional farmer with over 3,000 acres proposed in his bid, to spray a dangerous neurotoxin which is known to be toxic to fish, directly into a ditch (an off-label use - waterways are supposed to be off-limits for this chemical). His bid WON! 3. An operation which doesn’t even own a tractor, a baler, a swather or a rake was awarded several parcels totaling 157 acres of prime farmland when the bid criteria clearly stated that “Ability to meet equipment requirements” was a major criterion for the decision. This is a relatively inexperienced operator. Why was their bid deemed superior?
What’s going on over there in the Agriculture Managment office of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks? How are these decisions being made? We expect and demand a Transparent, Open and Objective bidding process! Protest the fact that your land is being sprayed with pesticides! Demand that your land be used to support regenerative agriculture and local food! Thanks for your support!
