New produce pilot will stock food pantries across Dolores County

A new produce pilot is set to send about 20,000 pounds of locally grown vegetables into food pantries serving Dolores County, Montezuma County and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Nation, giving pantry operators a steadier source of fresh food than the shelf-stable donations many families rely on now.

The Pantry Produce Share Program brings together Good Food Collective, Southwest Community Food Alliance and Banga’s Farm for a 16-week harvest season from June through October. The crop list is built around items pantries can distribute quickly and families can use right away, including carrots, potatoes, onions, lettuce, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and more.

For Dave Banga, who has grown market vegetables for more than two decades, the pantry model offers a way to move produce more predictably while reducing the physical grind of farmers markets. Instead of packing, loading and spending long days selling directly to customers, Banga can route food through a system that gets vegetables to people who may not otherwise be able to afford them.

The local need is sharpened by the size and geography of the service area. Dolores County had 2,326 residents in the 2020 census, while Montezuma County had 25,849 people spread across 2,029.3 square miles of land. In practical terms, that means fresh food often has to travel farther than it would in more urban parts of Colorado, and county lines do not match the way families actually shop, cook and receive help.

The new pilot joins an already stretched food-aid network. The Dolores Family Project pantry distributes food Tuesdays from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Dolores Community Center, and Good Food Collective also lists summer meal support for Dolores County children through Dove Creek ROCK through Thursday, July 23, 2026. Those programs sit alongside the new produce stream, which could help pantry shelves hold more than canned goods alone.

Good Food Collective says it works as a farm-to-food access hub, connecting local farmers with food banks and other access points. The group says it has already helped build a purchasing network that included 14 food assistance providers and 36 local producers, directing $564,642 in public dollars into local food distribution. That track record matters because the new produce share is still a pilot year, and keeping it going will require longer-term funding.

Regional food-system planning has already brought together leaders from Montezuma and Dolores counties and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Nation, along with farmers, ranchers and public-health staff. If the pilot holds, it could become more than a one-season harvest project and instead add a durable local supply line for pantries from Dove Creek to Towaoc.