The Colorado Farm Bureau is proposing a ballot initiative that would compensate farmers when laws or regulations put their mineral rights out of reach.

The text of Initiative 112 can be found by clicking here.

Those affected would be paid the difference in fair market value before and after the new regulation was implemented on property Initiative 112 characterizes as “damaged or taken” by the new regulation.

The initiative has a Jan. 23 meeting with the Legislative Council staff to review the wording of the  ballot question. The Farm Bureau would have to collect 98,492 signatures from all 35 state Senate districts in the next six months to quality for Nov. 6 ballot.

The amendment would be constitutional, not statutory, meaning state lawmakers couldn’t change it.

The Farm Bureau cited a proposed ballot measure to increase setbacks for oil and gas operations to 2,400 feet – nearly a half-mile – from homes, schools and other public spaces. A similar ballot proposal in 2016 didn’t collect enough signatures to make the ballot.

“These measures are about protecting Colorado’s farmers and ranchers from extremist attempts to enforce random set back requirements for oil and natural gas development,” Chad Vorthmann, Colorado Farm Bureau’s executive vice president, said in a statement.

“While these setbacks may on their face sound reasonable, they would essentially eliminate oil and natural gas development in Colorado and strip away Colorado landowners’ right to use their land the way they wish. This is about protecting the Colorado way of life. Because taking private property is not the Colorado way.”

The Farm Bureau, the state’s largest organization for farmers and ranchers, said the state has more than 600,000 private landowners who hold mineral rights and were paid more than $600 million in royalties in 2012.

“These are checks that make a real impact,” Vorthmann said. “This is money that helps them through their lean years. It helps them put their kids through college. It guarantees they can make ends meet.”

The Farm Bureau provided a statement from Michelle Smith, a farmer from Elbert.

“Mineral rights make all the difference to our small organic-based farm,” she said. “Like many Colorado farm-to-table businesses, if we can’t offset operating costs with our minerals, then we’re out of business.”