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Colorado - Mon. 04/20/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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COLORADO’S FARMERS IN BAD SHAPE: DROUGHT, SOARING PRICES FOR FUEL, FERTILIZER
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Across the state, from the fruit growers and ranchers on the West Slope to green chile growers in Pueblo to grain and vegetable farmers on the Front Range and Eastern Slope, Colorado’s producers are facing what Colorado Dept. of Agriculture Commissioner Kate Greenberg calls “conflating factors.” These factors are severe enough this year to force difficult decisions on whether to even plant crops or get out of agriculture entirely. The most dramatic and obvious issue is water scarcity due to the exceptionally low mountain snow, coupled with soil drying heat. The compounding issues are far from the state and beyond local control. Those began with the tariffs imposed at the beginning of the year, followed by the war in Iran which drove up the price of fuel and fertilizer. Then, there was the impact on farm workers resulting from the federal government’s crackdown on immigration and state limits on how many hours seasonal foreign workers with H2A visas can work.
For two of the state’s most recognized products, Olathe Sweet Corn and Pueblo’s green chiles, planting will be cut back by almost half. David Harold, owner of Tuxedo Corn Company, will plant Olathe Sweet Corn on just 100 to 300 acres instead of 1,600 acres. Rocky Musso, operator of the fifth-generation Musso Farms, will cut back to about 60 percent to 75 percent planting of green chiles. For farmers, the option of taking the year off completely is impossible, as expenses remain and payments must be made.
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COULD CLOUD SEEDING HAVE “SAVED” COLORADO’S DRY WINTER?
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Colorado is one of at least nine states in the West that currently conduct cloud seeding operations, including California, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Texas and North Dakota. The Colorado Water Conservation Board administers the state’s weather modification program, which issues permits to contractors who operate seven permitted winter cloud seeding projects, all of which are located on the Western Slope. Cloud seeding has been around since 1946 and involves dispersing silver iodide, or other harmless compounds, to serve as nuclei around which ice crystals can form during a storm. It is estimated that cloud seeding systems can increase a storm's snowfall by 8 percent to 12 percent.
The operative word is "storm." Colorado's Weather Modification Program Manager Andrew Rickert says, “Cloud seeding can’t create storms. We need storms to be present with the right characteristics — wind speed, wind direction and the presence of supercooled liquid water — and when all those things are there, then we can seed the storm to get a little bit more out of it.” The problem in the 2025-26 winter, compared to the past few winters, was the lack of suitable storms. In the central mountains, where there are usually 30 to 40 storms that are suitable for cloud seeding, there were only 20 this season. In the San Juan Mountains there were only 12.
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DENVER COLORADO WAS THE GLOBAL CAPITAL OF SPORTS ON SATURDAY
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What would you do if you had the opportunity to see three of “The Best in the World” in one location at one time. It was very close to that Saturday afternoon in Denver. Within four hours of each game and within three miles of each other, there were:
- The best basketball player: Nikola Jokic playing at the Ball Center
- The best baseball player: Shohei Ohtani playing at Coors Field
- The best soccer player: Lionel Messi playing at Empower Field at Mile High
As to being the center of the sports world: Jokic is from Serbia; Ohtani from Japan and Messi from Argentina. In terms of who was the greatest draw…no contest, 75,824 showed up to see Messi. As to how they did: Jokic led the Nuggets to a playoff win over the Minnesota Timberwolves; Ohtani and the Dodgers actually lost to the Colorado Rockies 4-3; and Messi, of course, scored two goals, including the winner, in a 3-2 win by Inter Miami CF over the Colorado Rapids.
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LOCKHEED MARTIN SPACE SECURES $850 MILLION NUCLEAR MISSILE CONTRACT
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Lockheed Martin Space, the missile engineering division of Lockheed Martin Corp., headquartered in Littleton, has been awarded an $850.4 million contract extension for work on Trident II nuclear missiles for submarines. The award covers “life extension” design work on the missiles through the end of the federal fiscal year in 2030. More than 55 percent of the work will be based at Lockheed Martin Space’s headquarters southwest of Denver, and the remainder is split among company locations near Titusville and Cape Canaveral, Florida, and northern California, according to the award notice issued Friday by the U.S. military’s Strategic Systems Programs office based in Washington, D.C. The company moved its missile engineering to Colorado and Titusville in 2017, adding hundreds of jobs to its local payroll. About 10,000 employees work at the company’s headquarters campus and associated metro-area offices. The company has a statewide workforce of about 14,000.
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CU ATHLETICS RECEIVES LARGEST DONATION EVER, $6 MILLION FROM CRAWFORD FAMILY
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On Friday, CU announced that alum Jeff Crawford and his wife, Orsi, have donated $6 million to support the CU athletic department over the next three years. It is the largest gift in history for the CU athletic department. Jeff Crawford graduated from CU in 1990. Jeff and Orsi’s son Jack graduated from CU in 2024, and their son CJ is currently a CU student. Over the last 35 years, the Crawford family has donated to several areas of the university, from athletics to the Leeds School of Business, College of Communication, Media, Design and Information and the Parent Fund.
Half of the Crawfords’ latest gift will go toward the Athletic Director’s Discretionary Fund, which is being renamed the George Family Athletic Director’s Fund, to honor athletic director emeritus Rick George, who stepped down from his AD role at the start of the year. The George Family Athletic Director’s fund supports needs such as coaching support and athlete identification and retention. It also provides flexibility to support student-athletes in the evolving college athletics landscape, to fully fund revenue sharing and respond to challenges and opportunities.
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GUANELLA PASS ROAD HAS EARLY OPENING
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The winter’s lack of snow allowed crews to clear the 24-mile scenic byway Guanella Pass Road "significantly earlier," and the road opened Thursday, April 16. That is the earliest opening since the road was paved in 2016. The Guanella Pass Road, which goes south from Georgetown to Grant, typically opens on Memorial Day weekend, as do many other high mountain passes in the state. Guanella Pass is a popular road trip and hiking destination because of its picturesque views of Mount Bierstadt, Mount Blue Sky, and Argentine Pass. During fall color season, traffic on the pass has to be regulated. It usually closes for the season around Thanksgiving.
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AMERICAN AIRLINES SHUTS DOWN ANY TALK OF MERGER WITH UNITED
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American Airlines said on Friday that it was not interested in a merger with United Airlines and had not held any such talks, diminishing prospects of an industry-reshaping deal that would face tough regulatory scrutiny. A combination of two of the largest U.S. network carriers would mark the biggest consolidation move in more than a decade, further tightening a domestic market already dominated by four similarly sized players. Including international flights, United and American were already the world’s two largest airlines by available capacity in 2025, according to OAG data. That scale would, however, invite extraordinary scrutiny from regulators, labor unions and consumer advocates wary of higher fares and reduced competition, leaving the deal with slim chances of approval, analysts and industry officials have said. There is also significant overlap between American and United, including Chicago O’Hare and major hubs in Texas.
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DENVER-BASED COMPANY IS A PAWN SHOP FOR THE ULTRA-RICH
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In 2009, Dewey Burke launched Luxury Asset Capital in Denver and now it is a multi-million business lending money to ultra-rich clients who use luxury assets as a revolving line of credit. It basically is a pawn shop for the rich. Because deals can be made quickly, often within a day, without a great deal of paperwork, it is a quick means of money for borrowers who are asset-rich but may be cash-poor. Burke bought out two rivals, Borro, in February of 2020, and The Loan Companies in 2021, respectively, and now has physical locations in New York City, Palm Beach and Beverly Hills, with Borro, the company’s online lending platform, with the headquarters in Denver.
Flexibility is a big part of the appeal. While traditional banks typically lend against securities portfolios or real estate, luxury asset lenders are willing to finance a broader range of items that stretch the bounds of alternative assets for traditional financial institutions. Borro has loaned money against everything from Super Bowl rings to samurai swords to a midtown Manhattan parking space. The pitch is simple: speed, discretion and no personal guarantees. Borrowers pledge their luxurious collateral, receive funds quickly and redeem their assets later. If they don’t repay, the lender keeps the item and sells it - often through auction houses like Christie’s or Sotheby’s.
Typical loans are on average between $15,000 and $20,000, although Borro can lend up to $5 million. Most loans are short-term, typically lasting 30 to 120 days, though many borrowers extend or renew them, effectively using luxury assets as a revolving line of credit. Borro typically charges interest in the low single digits per month, according to Burke, with additional costs such as insurance and storage. Loan-to-value ratios typically range from roughly 40 percent to 65 percent depending on the asset, according to Burke - higher for more liquid categories like Rolex watches and lower for more specialized assets.
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BEST PLACE TO RETIRE IN COLORADO 2026
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U.S. News & World Report analyzed data for more than 850 top cities in the U.S. to assess how well they meet Americans' retirement needs and expectations. Top criteria include quality of life, overall value, tax rates, senior population/migration trends, and health care quality. Cities in the rankings are evaluated using data from Applied Geographic Solutions (AGS) and U.S. News’ internal resources. AGS develops its core database and specialized indexes from both private and government sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, Dept. of Commerce, Federal Reserve and Bureau of Economic Analysis, as well as state and local sources. Cities in Colorado did not do well in the national rankings. The top city in Colorado was Centennial, but it was only No. 262 in the national rankings.
Top ten cities ranked by U.S. News in its Best Places to Retire in Colorado 2026:
- Centennial
- Colorado Springs
- Littleton
- Loveland
- Pueblo
- Thornton
- Fort Collins
- Grand Junction
- Greeley
- Castle Rock
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DIA DROPS IN RANKINGS OF WORLD’S BUSIEST & BUSIEST IN U.S.
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Last week, the Airports Council International (ACI) released its rankings of the passenger traffic at airports around the world for 2025. Although Denver International Airport registered an increase in numbers over 2024, it was miniscule – 0.1 percent - and DIA fell from its rank of 6th busiest in the world in 2024 to No. 10 in 2025. In terms of U.S. airports, DIA also fell from No. 3 in passenger traffic in 2024 to No. 4 in 2025.
ACI’s Busiest Airports in the World, 2025, with 2025 passenger numbers and percentage change from 2024
- Atlanta, GA, U.S. (ATL): 106,302,208; -1.6 percent
- Dubai, AE (DXB): 95,192,160; 3.1 percent
- Tokyo, JP (HND): 91,679,814; +6.7 percent
- Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, U.S. (DFW): -2.5 percent
- Shanghai, CN (PVG): 84,994,227; +10.7 percent
- Chicago, IL (ORD): 84,814,099; +6.0 percent
- London, GB (LHR): 84,482,126; +0.7 percent
- Istanbul, TR (IST): 84,437,710; +5.5 percent
- Guangzhou, CN (CAN): 83,582,952; +9.5 percent
- Denver, CO (DEN): 82,427,962; +0.1 percent
Top 10 Busiest U.S. Airports (Passenger Traffic - Preliminary 2025 Data)
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
- Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
- Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)
- Denver International Airport (DEN)
- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
- Las Vegas (Harry Reid International Airport) (LAS)
- Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT)
- Miami International Airport (MIA)
- Orlando International Airport (MCO)
- Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
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MARKET UPDATE - 04/17/2026 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 04/16/2026)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
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