Former Rep. Kimmi Lewis was a good ranch gal and one fiercely patriotic lady. I deeply admired her passion and tenacity and I miss her. There have been a number of times since she passed away in 2019, I wished I could call her to get my bearings and a pep talk.

Lewis lost her husband, Dave, in 2000 to cancer and raised the “Lewis Six Pack” – twins in middle school, two in high school, and two in college at the time – while still managing Muddy Valley Ranch and the trucking company the couple owned. She fought breast cancer herself in 2014, again in 2018 during the legislative session, and throughout 2019. She was deeply rooted in her Catholic faith, believed in American ranchers, and believed every legislator under the Gold Dome ought to have a day or two immersed in Colorado agriculture.

She established a legislative tour and invited Front Range legislators to Muddy Valley Ranch to experience her hospitality and the historic operation that sprawls across southeastern Colorado. During the two-day tour, the group of legislators visited an array of ag operations so they might have a bit of context and understanding when asked to cast a vote that affects the agriculture industry one way or another. At a minimum, they had experts who could be called upon to answer questions.

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The tour not only brought legislators out to farming and ranching operations, but friendships – or at least familiarity – were forged over lunches in wheat fields and during meals starring home-canned pickles and beef raised by the person they shared a table with. There’s power in standing on a family operation and hearing the story directly from the producer. There’s power in time spent with a small group away from lobbyists and suit jackets and rush hour. There’s power in handshakes, getting the word directly from the people who make their living making homemade pickles, for goodness’ sake.

This year, Lewis’s tour was rekindled by the rural legislators from eastern Colorado: Rep. Ty Winter (HD 47), Rep. Richard Holtorf (HD 63), Sen. Byron Pelton (SD 1), and Sen. Rod Pelton (SD 35.) That is, coincidentally, every legislator from eastern Colorado. Winter represents 82,000 people across his 3,263 square-mile district; Holtorf represents about 107,000 people across his 3,376 square-mile district; Sen. B. Pelton represents about 152,000 people across his 20,951 square-mile district; and Sen. R. Pelton represents about 138,000 people across his 26,788 square-mile district. The Senate districts account for nearly 45% of the state’s land mass and just 7% of the state’s population. Cliché or not, cows outnumber people, but those cows are a major part of the state’s $47 billion agriculture industry. For comparison’s sake, Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis (SD 17) represents about 164,000 people across her 76.2 square-mile district.

Rep. Ty Winter said labor was a major conversation, especially during the stop in Rocky Ford when the group was able to speak to members of the Knapp, Hirakata and Hanagan families. You’ll recall Sen. Jessie Danielson (SD 22) sponsored an ag labor bill, SB21-087, that carried a hefty price tag for ag employers, especially in contrast to the input they were asked to offer prior to its introduction.

He said the families spoke about the effect the so-called Farmworkers Bill of Rights had on their labor costs and explained that many of the H-2A workers are frustrated with their inability to work more hours and are left feeling like the legislation “hamstrings their ability to feed their families.” Taking cash off the table wasn’t the point of Danielson’s bill but you know what they say about unintended consequences. This law is wrought with them and it’s precisely the “one glove doesn’t fit every hand” type of legislation the industry would love to avoid.

There are most certainly bad players among agriculture employers, but I have no doubt the tour goers heard not only from major growers, many of whom supply the produce purchased in Front Range grocery stores – take a look at the bag or sticker on your carrots, onions, melons, peppers, and pumpkins – but from growers who are trying their best to balance costs without having any control over the weather or how much their commodities will fetch at harvest time. Treating employees poorly or unfairly is unacceptable, but dependable and affordable agriculture labor is already increasingly difficult to find without taking financial incentives away from employers and employees alike. It’s this type of effort by the ag industry that will hopefully pay dividends when legislators are asked to vote.

Legislators who invested their time and attended the tour include Sen. Mark Baisley (R-HD4), Rep. Jennifer Bacon (D-HD7), Sen. Larry Liston (R-SD10), Rep. Barbara McLachlan (D-HD59), Sen. James Coleman (D-SD33), Rep. Karen McCormick (D-HD11), Rep. Jenny Willford (D-HD34), Rep. Lisa Frizell (R-HD45), Sen. Chris Hanson (D-SD31), Rep. Mandy Lindsay (D-HD42) and Rep. Anthony Hartsook (R-HD44.)

Rachel Gabel writes about agriculture and rural issues. She is assistant editor of The Fence Post Magazine, the region’s preeminent agriculture publication. Gabel is a daughter of the state’s oil and gas industry and a member of one of the state’s 12,000 cattle-raising families, and she has authored children’s books used in hundreds of classrooms to teach students about agriculture.