Monroe Organic Farms

Early 1920s: Lester Monroe Moved to Greeley from Joplin, KS, Married Margaret Brownfield & farmed a small parcel of ground her parents owned in North Greeley. 1920s-1935: Farm Stand at 5th Street & 14th Avenue Greeley CO. 1936: Purchased Homestead off of County Road 47, LaSalle CO. Early 1950s: Closed the Dairy. Gerald E. Monroe Sr. and W. Nadine Monroe took over the farming operation. 1986: Jerry and Jacquie Monroe took over farming operation, changed the name to Monroe Homegrown Vegetables and also helped start or attend new farmers markets in the area. 1991: Became Certified Organic, Closed the U-pick operation. 1992:  Renamed farm to Monroe Organic Farms, LLC. 1993: Started one of three Community Supported Agriculture projects in Colorado. 1996: Purchased additional property and expanded farming operation. 2018: Kyle J. Monroe, the fourth generation, took over the farming operation. 2026: Renamed farm to Monroe Family Farms, LLC. Proudly celebrating our 90th anniversary! If you would like to read the full history of our farm, keep scrolling. You may know us as Monroe Organic Farms. However, we are now known as Monroe Family Farms, LLC. Did you know we also had other names? During Jerry Monroe Sr.’s lifetime, there were three other names for our farming operation. Lester Monroe (Jerry Sr.’s father) called the farm Monroe Farm back in the mid 1920’s through the 1940’s. He raised vegetables and sold them at a farm stand off of 5th Street and 14th Avenue in Greeley. Jerry Sr. sold produce door to door. He remembers selling a bakers’ dozen (13) ears of corn for a penny. He started at 7-years-old and did this until he was 9, when they moved to the home-place off of County Road 47 in La Salle in 1936. Now the Monroe’s had more land and therefore could raise more crops. Lester sold to many of the small grocery stores in small towns from Denver to the Wyoming border. After returning from WWII and around 1947 or 48, Jerry Sr. and Lester started the Monroe Dairy and raised Jersey milk cows for their rich cream also known as butterfat. (They received more money for the cream than for the milk and Jersey cows were known for the large amount of cream they produced). When milk processors started to demand milk with less fat and pretty much insisted on farmers switching to Holstein cows, the Monroe’s decided to get out of the business in the early 1950’s. They went back to calling the place Monroe Farm. It was also during this time period that chemicals were being used extensively by other farmers. The Monroe’s had always raised produce organically (even though no such name existed in those days) and Lester had three strapping teenage boys to do all the work. In his mind, why did he need chemicals? Who would have guessed what he had created by not using those chemicals back in the 40’s/50’s! During the 1950’s, Jerry Sr. was doing all the farming and delivering of produce along the Front Range. People would see him unloading his truck at various grocery stores and asked if there was any way they could purchase produce at a reduced cost if they came to the farm to pick it themselves. He told his dad about the prospect of having people come out to the farm and it was decided to start the first U-Pick operation in Colorado. There was also a farm stand where customers could choose to purchase other kinds of produce in smaller quantities. People as far away as Cheyenne, Nebraska, and Kansas flocked to the farm. This continued for over 35 years. Jerry and Jacquie took over the farming operation in 1986 and the business side of things in 1991. Back in 1986, we helped start or attended the very first farmers markets in the area. Those markets included; Boulder County Farmers Market, Cherry Creek Farmers Market, Greeley Farmers Market, Fort Collins Farmers Market, and Cheyenne Farmers Market. At the height of our attendance, we went to 17 markets a week. When we started attending these markets, Jerry Sr. liked the way Monroe’s Ho