KUFM Commentary- March 2007

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Local Food Is Focus of Governor's Summit

by Nancy Matheson

When I was a kid growing up in Montana—which isn't all that long ago—Montana farmers and ranchers were growing nearly 70 percent of the food Montanans ate. That figure today?  Less than 10 percent of the food Montanans eat today was produced in our agricultural state. When my mom was a kid growing up in Montana—even she's not that old—food processing was Montana's number one employer. How many local food processing jobs does Montana have today? Zero according to the US Census, simply because Montana has so few food processing jobs they're not worth counting.

You might be wondering if it matters whether Montana produces its own food or we import it from other places. Looking back at our earlier food system lets us make some comparisons that can help us understand how profoundly  "where our food comes from" affects our economy, the health of our communities and our citizens. As our production of food declined over the years, our rural population has dimished, most of the value of our agricultural production has left the state, and the rate of hunger in Montana has sky-rocketed.

We know from Montana's historical production that we used to grow commercial quantities of a much wider diversity of crops than we grow today. Montana was even a net exporter of processed fruits and vegetables.  From our historical records we know that Montana is capable of producing a nutritionally complete diet—year-round.

In the decades following WWII, when transportation became cheap and farm chemicals made monocultures of grain easy to produce, Montana's farmers and ranchers began to grow—not food so much—but bulk raw commodities for export. Today's mainstay crops of wheat, barley and feeder calves are high volume, low margin products competing in mass global markets. As Montana's agriculture shifted from production and processing of food to raw commodities, we began to lose the capacity needed to produce food, especially the community-based processing and transportation networks we once had.

But, there's a shift taking place in localities around the world toward producing their own food once again, not only raw commodities for export. This shift—to relocalize the food economy—results in less distance and fewer steps between farmers and consumers. This means there is fresher, more nutritious food available, and more economic value staying in our local communities and on our farms. This shift is happening worldwide, and it is happening in Montana. Besides several bills in the current Legislature to support the processing, marketing and distribution of Montana-grown food in Montana, Governor Schweitzer is hosting a Food and Agriculture Summit this month in Helena.

This shift toward local food is a result of a global food sytem that isn't working very well for most of its participants. Let me give you a Montana example:  Eight of the 10 poorest counties in the U. S.—that's 8 of the 10 poorest counties in the nation—in terms of average wages and salaries are Montana agricultural counties. If you’re thinking, sure, they're the counties with the state's Indian reservations, you're wrong—not that that would be okay. They are all agriculture-producing counties in the eastern half of the state and not one of them has an Indian reservation in it. Clearly, the current food system isn't working for many of Montana's farm and ranch families.

The current global food economy isn't working for consumers either, who are suffering from food-related illnesses like heart disease and diabetes; many low-income and rural families suffer from a lack of access to nutritious, affordable food. And our rurual communities suffer from a lack of business and job opportunities. 

So what can we do about all this? The state's producers have some good market opportunities in Montana for value-added food items. A recent study of the state's food service market found good demand for value-added meat products in particular—items like frozen hamburger patties, fajita strips, and pre-cooked sausage. Much more of the bread being eaten in Montana could be made using Montana flour and grains. There's growing demand for Montana specialty dairy products like cheese and yogurt. Montana's produce growers could market more value-added products like chopped, bagged lettuce, washed and peeled carrots, and frozen french fries.  

Something you can do is attend the Governor's Food and Agriculture Summit this March 22 and 23 in Helena. The Governor is hosting the Summit as a way to bring Montanans together to identify the actions needed to create a food economy in Montana that improves all Montanans' access to healthy food, and in the process, supports the state's farmers and ranchers and keeps more of our food dollars in our local businesses and communities.

You are encouraged to participate. For more information about the Governor's Summit March 22-23, visit the Web at www.foodandag.mt.gov

And whether you can make it to the Governor's Summit or not, eat some Montana food this week. If each Montana household spent just $10 a week on Montana-produced food, an additional $186 million dollars per year would go into the pockets of Montana's food producers.

I'm Nancy Matheson for AERO, the Alternative Energy Resources Organization. If you'd like to learn more about local food, contact AERO at 443-7272. Thank you for listening.