Governor Polis Gets an Earful from Rural Towns Tired of Being Ignored

By Hap Fry | Colorado Politics

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS • Once upon a time, Marsha Daughenbaugh supported Gov. Jared Polis from her working cattle and hay ranch some 8 miles outside of Steamboat.

“Let me preface this,” Daughenbaugh said, while making day-before preparations for a Fourth of July gathering for family and friends, before pausing and adding, “I voted for Governor Polis the first go around, but I’ve become very disappointed in what he has become and what his approach to agriculture has been.”

“I feel like he has a much deeper, more urban interest in his heart,” Daughenbaugh said.

“I was born and raised here,” said the well-spoken 72-year-old rancher. “My folks worked very, very hard to put this ranch together. I believe deeply in agriculture. We all have to do what we can to make it viable.”

Daughenbaugh’s list of complaints against the governor is lengthy, and she is not alone in rural Colorado in expressing frustrations with the policies coming out of the state Capitol.

Critics said the governor, who is entering his final 18 months in office, has favored urban centers, neglected the state’s rural regions and passed laws that directly — and negatively affected — their way of life.

The governor maintained that he he has signed policies that lifted rural Colorado, while his allies pointed to housing and mental health policies, among other laws, that they said have greatly benefited agricultural communities.

Former USDA secretary: Polis has accomplished a lot for rural Colorado
Former U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Polis’ negative image among the agriculture community may be tied to the wolf reintroduction program and a few other decisions.

Still, he stressed that the governor, along with Kate Greenberg, Colorado’s agriculture secretary, has accomplished a great deal, especially for small and medium-sized farms, though these gains may not seem immediately apparent.

Vilsak, a Democrat, served as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture between 2009-2017 under President Barack Obama, and then between 2021-2025 for President Joe Biden.

Vilsack noted that 88% of farm families must rely on off-farm secondary incomes to make a living. He praised Polis and Greenberg for their initiatives, including $800 million for climate-smart agriculture subsidies, pushing for more independent processing facilities, and providing small farmers with more opportunities.

As for the criticisms directed at Polis, Vilsack said positive work is not always recognized immediately.

“It takes a while for that kind of information to penetrate into the countryside,” he said.

Vilsack said decisions made in the 1970s altered the country’s agricultural system, shifting from a supply management system, where farmers thrived due to the controlled supply of resources.

“The Nixon administration made the decision that we in the country needed calories, and the world needed calories, and we needed food as an instrument as we dealt with the Cold War and the Soviet Union,” he said. “We needed food to be able to use as a way of developing relationships. So, we told farmers to go out and buy and produce. Just produce.”

The result, Vilsack said, is that major farmers thrived, then took over the industry, while small and medium-sized operations struggled. Vilsack argued that decisions made in the 1970s was the direct reason 544,000 farms nationwide between 1981 and 2022 failed.

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