Colorado’s food and agriculture industries have been growing two to four times faster than the overall state economy, according to a report by CSU economist Greg Graff. And as KUNC reports, Graff says that state could become the "Silicon Valley for agriculture in the 21st century" someday soon:
To back up that bold claim, Graff points to patents and publications. Private agricultural companies are on a tear, patenting new technologies in irrigation, food science and plant genetics. Public scientists are keeping pace, publishing research articles in agricultural science in record numbers, nearly 15,000 papers published between 1990 and 2012.
But it's not just about the fields dotting Northern Colorado -- Denver's home to big food processors. Greeley's got "the North American arm of the largest meat packing company in the world," and Boulder is home to several organic and natural food processors.
