Water concern forces Venetucci Farm to suspend produce sales, distribution

An ongoing water-quality issue that has affected communities just south of Colorado Springs has interrupted the growing season at the popular Venetucci Farm.

The Pikes Peak Community Foundation, which manages the nearly 200-acre farm, announced Friday that it will temporarily stop sales and distribution of its crops.

The farm sells crops to several farmers’ markets and other locations weekly.

The farm’s irrigation water comes from the Widefield aquifer, which has excessive levels of the chemicals commonly called PFCs.

Gary Butterworth, the foundation’s CEO, said the decision is a safety precaution.

“We don’t think our produce has any health risks,” he said. “But we want to make sure. We’re waiting for more conclusive tests. They’ve taken longer than we thought, but we couldn’t wait to act.”

Butterworth explained what will happen to the farm’s harvested produce.

“My guess would be that we’d compost it,” he said. “But we just made this decision, and some of those details are yet to be worked through.”

The farm is famous for its pumpkins, and for pumpkin ale.

Butterworth said he’s hopeful the situation will be resolved before the pumpkin crop is affected.

The PFC issue has affected the water supply in nearby Security-Widefield and Fountain.