Farm406

29 farm406 "We saw this coming. We amped up our bedding plant production quite a bit because we knew people were going to want to start gardening and we sold more than we'd ever had." Pam said. "We are hopeful that people will become more resilient." Pam reflected on the issues around food that the pandemic has brought up in many Montanan's minds. "We sold more vegetables this year than we ever have. Food is in the forefront of everyone's mind and people are seeing the benefits of buying local, more than ever before. e big food system can't pivot like we could. Our supply chain is short, it goes from us to the consumer." she said. Pam and Mike also want to make sure what they produce is affordable and accessible to everyone, not just people with higher incomes. ey have implemented a program where people who buy from their farm can also purchase extra food to supply the local food bank, where Pam is on the Board of Directors. Another project that popped up during the pandemic was the Producer Partnership, a group of local cale producers, local meat processors and local food centers who are providing Montana beef to Montanans facing food insecurity. e Partnership was founded by Ma Pierson, a fih-generation rancher in Park County. He founded it in April of this year in response to the pandemic. In seven months, the Partnership has donated over 41,240 pounds of ground beef to food banks, community centers, and veterans' programs. e Partnership also comes up against limited processing capacity in Montana. ere aren't enough meat processing plants to meet the demand they are seeing from local producers and consumers. According to MFU, the solution to a more resilient food system is to build and support a localized food system and they are actively supporting efforts in Montana to create the infrastructure needed to build a more localized food system, like the one Montana had 50 years ago. is includes supporting additional meat processing capacity and small food processors and supporting policy changes such as country of origin labeling (COOL). ere have been many steps in the right direction in the last couple months. Governor Steve Bullock has distributed nearly $12 million dollars in grant funding through the Montana Meat Processing Infrastructure Grant program to help small and medium-sized meat processors to increase their storage and processing capacity. Eric Bergman, who owns and operates Groundworks Farm in Fort Shaw would like to see the food system continue down the road to a more distributed system. "e more we give away the power and responsibility into fewer and fewer hands the more we are concentrating risk and so COVID illustrated for example illness of meat processing workers and the failure of a large distribution system to get animals from farm to processing to people." Eric said. Beef and hog carcasses hang in the cooler at Pioneer Meats in Big Timber, Montana. Photo: Alexis Bonogofsky

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