Local Food is Focus of Governor's Summit

News Date March 20, 2007

Can Montana produce more of its own food? An upcoming Governor's Summit on Food and Agriculture will explore ways Montana agriculture and other food-related businesses can produce a larger share of the food Montanans eat and boost the state's economy, jobs and nutrition in the process.
         Governor Brian Schweitzer invites Montanans to take part in the summit March 22 to 23 in Helena to "explore ways to build our family farm economy while increasing access to Montana-produced food for Montanans."
         The summit will seek ways to develop more local food production, processing and distribution as part of a trend in several states to revitalize agriculture, provide employment opportunities in local communities and improve residents' access to nutritious food.
         Until the early 1950s, nearly 70 percent of the food Montanans consumed was grown and processed in Montana communities. Since then, however, an ever-increasing share of agricultural production leaves the state each year in its raw form to be processed and consumed elsewhere. With it goes the potential for food-related economic activity.
         Experts estimate that Montana currently produces less than 10 percent of its own food. At the same time, Montanans are increasingly turning to emergency food assistance as a routine source of food. The Governor's summit will examine the economic and social implications of these trends and look for opportunities to reverse them.
         Following Schweitzer's opening address, keynote speaker Molly Anderson will describe pivotal changes in the food system, from global to state and local, and offer examples of efforts elsewhere to re-localize agriculture and increase community food security.
         Anderson is an internationally known Massachusetts-based researcher and educator on the science and policy of food systems, and is currently working with a broad national coalition exploring federal policy options to increase economic opportunities for farms, ranches and rural communities while increasing access to healthy food.
         Bill Yellowtail, who holds the endowed chair in Native American studies at Montana State University-Bozeman and co-directs the Bozeman-based Rural Landscape Institute, will speak at the first day's luncheon on closing the gap between local agriculture and healthy communities.
         Other summit presenters include food system experts from Montana and the region. Summit participants will work in self-selected small groups on the second day of the summit to identify specific economic development, policy and educational opportunities for Montana to pursue over the next two years.
         Registration for the summit, to be held at the Red Lion Colonial Hotel in Helena, is $35. The public is encouraged to attend. Some scholarships are available.
         For more information or a registration packet for the Governor's Food and Agriculture Summit, call the conference coordinator at 406/442-4141, or visit the summit website at http://www.foodandag.mt.gov. (Contact: Gail Brockbank, 406/442-4141)