Mike Bartolo — Soil, Science, and Selflessness

**Mike Bartolo** (0:01)
When I have some soil in my hand, and I see sometimes at the beginning of the season, just that little plant trying to break out of that ground, and the light is hitting it just the right way, there is something almost miraculous happening there.
It's hard to say that that's what defined, but there's a culmination of all these types of things that I know. There's something special about that, and you need to protect it and to be advocates for it.

**Ed Roberson** (0:35)
This is the Mountain & Prairie podcast. I'm Ed Roberson.
My guest today is Dr. Mike Bartolo. Mike is a third-generation farmer from Pueblo County, Colorado, and a retired research scientist and vegetable crop specialist at Colorado State University. Mike's grandparents immigrated from Italy in the early 1900s to work in the mines around Pueblo. And after years of backbreaking labor, they saved enough to buy a small farm on the St. Charles Mesa, the beginning of a family legacy on the land that continues to this day.
Mike went on to spend more than three decades at CSU, serving the farmers of the Arkansas Valley. And while he never claimed the title himself, many consider him the developer of the legendary Pueblo chili. I first met Mike back in 2018 through our mutual work with Palmer Land Conservancy, and ever since I've seen him as a mentor when it comes to matters of water, farmland conservation, long-term thinking and kindness.
His combination of scientific expertise, tireless work ethic, deep humility, and a fierce devotion to his family and community is something I've rarely encountered. Mike is also one of the main characters profiled in the excellent documentary MIRASOL, Looking at the Sun, which chronicles Pueblo County's farming community and its fight to protect its land and water. So it was an honor to finally sit down with him for this long overdue conversation. We started with a remarkable story of his grandparents, including his grandfather Rocco, who survived being a prisoner of war in World War I before returning to Colorado to break rocks for the steel industry. And how that generation's sacrifice continues to guide Mike today.
We talk about his childhood on the family farm, where he and his five siblings turned every chore into an Olympic competition, and his path to becoming a plant scientist at CSU.
We discussed what makes Pueblo County's farmland world class, the cautionary tale of Crowley County's devastating water sales, and why Mike believes educating and mobilizing the public is the key to protecting the Arkansas Valley's water.
We also dug into the history of the Pueblo Chile, as well as the making of MIRASOL, his approach to passionate but respectful advocacy, the spiritual connection he feels for the soil, his advice for the next generation of farmers, and much more. This was such a meaningful conversation for me, and I know you'll enjoy getting to know Mike as much as I have. But before we get started, I wanted to thank the people and organizations that make Mountain & Prairie possible. Mountain & Prairie is listener-supported via Patreon, which means that listeners like you can support the podcast and all of my various projects for as little as $2 a month. The podcast is also supported by a small number of values-aligned organizations on either an annual or quarterly basis. A huge thank you to the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, the documentary MIRASOL Looking at the Sun, Patagonia Books, and the Rye Resurgence Project for their generous support. And since today features my longtime friend and mentor, Mike Bartolo, this is the perfect opportunity for me to tell you more about the film that Mike is at the very center of, the documentary MIRASOL Looking at the Sun. Longtime listeners have heard me mention MIRASOL before, but if you're new to it, here's the story. MIRASOL is a 37-minute documentary directed by the acclaimed filmmaker Ben Knight, a guy whose work you probably already know whether you realize it or not. Ben directed Damn Nation, which he made with Patagonia and premiered at South by Southwest, as well as The Last Honeyhunter with National Geographic and Learning to Drown with the North Face. He's one of the most gifted storytellers working in environmental and adventure filmmaking today, and he's also one of the kindest, most compassionate people I've ever met.
With MIRASOL, he turned his lens on a place and community that Mike and I discuss at length in this episode, the farmland of Pueblo County, Colorado. The film is an intimate portrait of the multi-generational Italian and Hispanic farming families of Pueblo, from a 92-year-old farmer all the way down to the young people poised to inherit the land. It explores their fight to protect their water, their soil, and their way of life in the face of rapid development, water scarcity, and population growth. These are exactly the issues Mike and I dig into in this episode. What happened in Crowley County, the looming threats to agricultural water in the Arkansas Valley, and what it would mean to lose one of the most productive farming communities in the American West. If this conversation resonates with you, MIRASOL is essential viewing. It puts faces, families, and landscapes to everything we talk about. And I have to admit, I have a real personal connection to this film. MIRASOL was produced by Palmer Land Conservancy, the land trust where I used to work, and I was lucky enough to help raise some of the early funding that got the film off the ground. I've watched this project grow from an ambitious idea into an award-winning film that premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, and screened at other notable festivals across the country, including Telluride Mountain Film and Five Point. And it even earned honors as Best Colorado Documentary. So when I tell you this film is worth your time, I'm not just reading some kind of silly ad. I've been rooting for this story for many years. But more than anything, MIRASOL is a rallying cry. As Mike says in the film, this land should be like our only child. We should be protecting it with everything we have. The film reminds us that the choices we make today about land and water will define our future. And that is up to all of us, not just farmers, to write the ending of this story. And best of all, the film is 100% completely free to watch. Just go to mirasolfilm.com and you can stream the entire thing right now. It's 37 minutes, it's beautiful. And after hearing my conversation with Mike, I guarantee you'll want to see him in action. There's a link in the episode notes. A huge thanks to Palmer Land Conservancy and the MIRASOL team for supporting Mountain & Prairie and for telling a story that matters so much to the future of the American West. And with that, let's get into my conversation with Mike Bartolo.