(1) The purposes of the council include:
(a) Growing local, regional, and statewide food economies within which producers have access to new markets and low-income populations have access to fresh, affordable, and healthy foods. The council will collaborate and coordinate with agricultural producers, relevant state and federal educational institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and consumers to connect state and federal agencies and to provide Colorado agricultural producers, including fruit and vegetable producers, with viable market opportunities. Areas of focus include:
Connecting Colorado agricultural producers to federal food assistance programs byfunctioning as an interagency liaison between relevant state and federal agencies;
Leveraging the purchasing power of the state's institutions to create new and reliablemarkets for Colorado agricultural products and support the growth of robust and resilient food systems while providing fresh, affordable, and healthy foods to vulnerable populations; and
Supporting the implementation of the recommendations in the Colorado blueprintof food and agriculture project, ensuring that the recommendations in the blueprint, or its successor project, are updated as needed, and ensuring alignment with other state or local food plans if relevant.
Conducting research regarding national best practices regarding food and nutritionassistance, direct and intermediated market development, institutional procurement, and farm-toschool programs as well as other priorities determined by the council;
Collaborating with, serving as a resource to, and receiving input from local and regional food policy councils in the state; and
Exploring methods of collecting and assessing statewide data relating to council activities and reporting the relevant information and data regarding council activities as required by section 23-31-1106.
(2) The department of agriculture, department of education, department of human services, and department of public health and environment shall cooperate with the council with respect to the council's duties specified in subsection (1) of this section.
Source: L. 2019: Entire part added with relocations, (HB 19-1202), ch. 403, p. 3569, § 1, effective May 31.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 24-37.3-103 as it existed prior to 2019.