About us
What would Northern Colorado look like without farmland?
Northern Colorado is one of the fastest growing regions in the United States, making local farmland some of the most endangered in the country. Each year we lose more than 2,400 acres of farmland as it is converted to residential and commercial development.
Loss of land impacts our community
Farmland provides food for our community and maintains healthy ecosystems that mitigate the impacts of a warming climate. When land is developed, habitats for birds, insects, and other pollinators are disrupted. Land that helps sequester carbon is covered with concrete. Open spaces disappear.
PVCF is keeping farmers in our community
Since 2016, Poudre Valley Community Farms (PVCF) has been dedicated to helping Northern Colorado farmers and ranchers grow local food by connecting them to land and water. Today, we are focused on three priorities:
- Securing access to land, water, and infrastructure for local farmers
- Supporting conservation agriculture
- Fostering a connected community of people who grow, eat, and care about food and the land where it is grown
What does PVCF do to achieve results?
Loss of agricultural land is a national issue and our work is sustained by partnerships with local governments, private landowners, developers, and land trusts. Through first-of-their-kind initiatives, PVCF is providing long-term leases at prices below market rates, creating long-term sustainability for local farmers and ranchers who produce food in the region.
Making a difference for local farmers and ranchers
PVCF manages 350 acres of land across Northern Colorado and has enabled 12 unique producers to grow food for the community. Our current producers are beef and chicken ranchers, cheese producers, and vegetable and flower farmers. Our first farmers began working PVCF land eight years ago and we continue to add new producers who are dedicated to growing local food for our community.
Please join us to save critically endangered farmland
PVCF needs your help to continue its mission of supporting local farmers and ranchers by connecting them to land and water. Here are impactful ways you can contribute to local farming in Northern Colorado :
Our Team
Lydia Lazar (She/Her)
Executive Director
Lydia Lazar is an experienced leader who is passionate about strengthening local food systems. With a background in hydrology, soil health-focused agriculture, law, and business development, Lydia is excited about the opportunity to serve the Northern Colorado community. Since moving to Colorado in 2020, Lydia led AcresUSA, where she had the opportunity to reconnect with the organic and regenerative farming movement, having started her career encouraging potato farmers on Long Island to implement integrated pest management strategies and grow fresh market vegetables for New York City Greenmarkets.
Justin Warren (He/Him)
Land and Access Program Manager
Originally from Texas, Justin spent most of his life in Wyoming, graduating from the University of Wyoming and eventually moving to Ft. Collins. This is where he first learned about regenerative agriculture and graduated from the Quivira Coalition's New Agrarian Program in 2024. During his apprenticeship, he worked at the Collins Ranch; a cow-calf operation in Kit Carson, Co. Here he learned how to raise cattle, and a small sheep flock, in a semi-arid climate while using regenerative practices to improve the soil health and native forages. While he is passionate about improving environmental health, he is also passionate about providing nutritious, high quality, and locally produced food to communities and everyone within them. Food has always been a large part of his life and has led to his hobbies such as baking, butchery, gardening,hunting, and fishing.
Our Board of Directors
Mark Sears, Board President
Mark retired from the City of Fort Collins in 2021, after serving the community for 41 years. He served as a project manager/engineer for 19 years building transportation projects, the most notable ones being the Timberline Road Extension and the Railroad Consolidation. He then spent 22 years as the Natural Areas Manager, or as he describes his position as the Head Cheerleader and Water Boy. Working for the Natural Areas Programs was his dream job. He helped conserve more than 70,000 acres of land, which included ranch and farmland as well as wildlife habitat. He helped conserve several local farms that are now being leased by PVCF for grazing and vegetable farming.
His degree in Civil Engineering with a minor in Business Management, his 37 years helping manage a non-profit Christian Camp and Retreat Center, and his lifelong associations with agriculture have prepared him for his service to PVCF.
Mark is very passionate about conserving land for wildlife habitat protection and restoration, outdoor recreation, and for agriculture. He is also very passionate about caring for our youth, serving as a scout leader, a church youth leader, summer camp director, being a Partner with Partners Mentoring Youth, and a volunteer Master Naturalist. For his work with youth, in 2017 he received a Dot Tomlinson Lifetime Achievement Award, from Team – Wellness and Prevention.
His personal life is very full, spending time as a friend, husband, father and grandfather, model railroader, and world traveler.
Katie Wallace, Vice President
Katie works with mission-driven organizations and capital on both sides of the impact equation. On the funder side, she helps companies, donors, and investors clarify their impact priorities and build programs that produce measurable progress. On the other side, she helps nonprofits and startups sharpen their strategy, fundraising, and programs to deliver outcomes that matter to their communities and funders.
She brings executive leadership experience from her 20 years at New Belgium Brewing Company where she built profitable sustainability initiatives, oversaw tens of millions of dollars in philanthropy, facilitated industry-wide collaborations across agricultural supply chains, and served as a spokesperson for the company’s innovative business model. She holds degrees in Finance and Economics and a Master’s in Positive Psychology from University of Pennsylvania, where she studied the psychology of change.
Katie is passionate about creating a thriving economy that values local ownership, healthy ecosystems, and a sense of vitality and connection in the community. That’s part of why she’s a champion of PVCF’s mission to protect critical ag land and water while enabling community-scale farming and food businesses. In her free time, Katie is organizing block parties and game nights, adventuring outdoors with friends and dogs, traveling, cooking, and desperately trying to get better at ceramics and woodworking.
Lisa Hempel
A Colorado native, Lisa has spent the past decade building community in Northern Colorado. She and her husband, Pat, are deeply committed to Poudre Valley Community Farms’ mission and became involved when the organization began as a cooperative. With a strong commitment to protecting the environment and strengthening local food systems, Lisa now volunteers her time as Secretary of the PVCF Board and head of the fundraising committee. She built her career as a marketer in the technology industry, helping organizations and leaders communicate with clarity and purpose.
Dennis Lacerte
Dennis Lacerte is an organic vegetable farmer and regenerative agriculture practitioner at Poudre Valley Community Farms (PVCF) in Northern Colorado, where he leases and farms six acres at Flores del Sol. He grows diversified organic vegetables using soil-first practices focused on resilience, ecosystem health, and high-quality food for the local community.
Dennis joined the PVCF Board of Directors in fall 2025 and is a graduate and mentor of the Northern Colorado Foodshed Project Farm Business Accelerator. He brings a systems-thinking perspective shaped by a Mechanical Engineering degree from Colorado State University and hands-on farming experience, including an apprenticeship at Frith Farm in Maine.
Inspired by his grandfather’s garden, Dennis’s work is guided by connection to land and community. Outside of farming, he is a long-distance hiker who has completed the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail, experiences that inform his regenerative approach and respect for natural systems.