Boulder County’s sustainable agriculture initiative People can review and submit comments about Boulder County’s proposed Sustainable Agriculture Research and Innovation Initiative, and submit comments about it, by visiting bit.ly/1Kvbws8. The deadline for public comments is Dec. 30.

Boulder County is seeking comments about a sustainable-agriculture research project, as well as about a request for proposals the county plans to issue for contractors that might be interested in getting paid to help the county establish that project.

What the county is calling its Sustainable Agriculture Research and Innovation Initiative, or SARII, would use a yet-to-be designated location of county-owned farmland to study and compare various agricultural production practices for their environmental and economic benefits.

Eric Lane, director of Boulder County’s Parks and Open Space Department, said a specific site has not been designated for the research initiative, but that it likely will be on an 80- to 100-acre parcel of irrigated county-owned farmland.

Nor has an exact amount yet been budgeted for the project, Lane said.

The sustainable farming initiative is being launched as part of a plan that Boulder County commissioners approved in a 2-1 vote on Nov. 30 for phasing out the growing of genetically engineered crops on farmland the county leases to farmers.

In a memo for that meeting, the Parks and Open Space Department staff wrote the commissioners that the proposed initiative would be run by the department, in conjunction with Colorado State University Extension, “to provide on-the-ground research and demonstration of climate-smart, sustainable agriculture tailored to the conditions and geography of Boulder County.”

Boulder County has posted a draft “envisioning and scoping document” and a draft request for proposals from contractors who might be interested in participating in the sustainable-agriculture project for the next 10 years.

Public comments will be taken online through Dec. 30 on both drafts, which Lane said may then be revised before the county formally issues its request for consultants’ proposals in January.

Lane said that under the tentative timeline, the county may select a contractor for the project in February.

Elise Jones, chairwoman of the Board of County Commissioners, said “there’s great public interest in this topic” and that the proposed project stems from county officials’ “desire to research and pilot sustainable-agriculture cropping practices and new crops and to expand our support of our local farmers.”

When asked what the “sustainable-agriculture” term means, Jones said it’s food production that “protects our land, water, pollinators and wildlife resources while providing economic return to our local farmers.”

Neither the current draft of the envisioning and scoping document nor the draft request for proposals refers specifically to genetically engineered crops, or GEs. But some critics of the phase-out plan have urged that the county research project include comparison testing of the impacts of growing genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, as well as conventional crops.

Commissioner Cindy Domenico, who dissented in the 2-1 vote to phase out genetically engineered crops, said she supports the sustainability research project but thinks it “should be comprehensive” and not primarily focused on organic crop production.

“Let’s test GEs along with other crops,” Domenico said Wednesday.

The research, according to the draft plan up for public comment, could include — but not be limited to — “climate-smart agriculture,” integrated pest management against weeds, insects and crop diseases, soil health, energy use, the optimal use of irrigation water, and “toxicity regarding environmental and public health.”

Systems that would be evaluated could include organic agriculture, conventional agriculture or a mixture of organic and conventional farming.

“This isn’t designed to be organics versus GE crops,” Lane said.

Dan Lisco, president of Farmers Alliance for Integrated Resources, an organization that opposed the GMO phase-out, said in a statement his organization’s farmers “have not reviewed the draft request for proposals” about the sustainable-agriculture research project, “and so we can’t comment on it yet.”

Lisco said Farmers Alliance for Integrated Resources “has consistently been asking that this research initiative be directed by local farmers, that the data and process be publicly transparent, and that there is a mechanism for evaluating progress and adjusting accordingly.

“We also think that the research should be a space that is free from dogma, where diverse farming methods can be evaluated scientifically for environmental and economic sustainability,” Lisco said.

John Fryar: 303-684-5211, jfryar@times-call.com or twitter.com/jfryartc