On Oct. 11, an ambitious forum in Kalispell will bring together a diverse collection of agricultural representatives, with the goal of addressing both current and future challenges facing the industry while encouraging improved communication between farmers and the community at large.
In short, the forum’s organizers want to remind people that before food arrives in the supermarket it’s grown somewhere, and steps need to be taken to make sure those growers have the resources and land they need to keep providing that fundamental necessity of life: food.
Mark Schiltz, western manager for the Montana Land Reliance, said the event will be broken into three overriding themes: preserving land, economic opportunities and young farmers. The forum is held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Flathead County Fairgrounds’ Expo Building.
“What I want to show is that farming is viable here and it’s important,” Schiltz, the event’s chief organizer, said. “To ensure we have agriculture in the future, it takes a group. Essentially it’s a community effort.”
Among the speakers scheduled are Schiltz, CHS Kalispell General Manager Mark Lalum, Montana Department of Agriculture Director Ron de Yong, CHS Kalispell agronomist Markus Braaten and speakers from the Montana State University College of Agriculture.
Their presentations will cover a wide array of topics, including the sustainable management of energy input, genetically modified foods, conservation easements, education, export markets, local opportunities and more. Schiltz said there will be a concerted effort to avoid political conversations.
“We’re not going to be talking about zoning and regulations because I don’t want this to be a political event,” he said.
Lalum will discuss local and export markets, addressing the challenges and opportunities of a “dynamic and changing” global industry.
“I think it’s really important to get the word out about what’s going on in agriculture,” Lalum said. “It’s the largest industry in the state and will probably continue to be that way. And it’s one we shouldn’t take for granted – the supply of good, quality, safe food is important to everybody.”
He added: “There are a lot of things we can live without, but food isn’t one of them.”
De Yong, from the state agriculture department, will give a presentation on economic opportunities for farmers in Montana, specifically addressing value-added opportunities. One value-added possibility, de Yong said, could be a farm growing wheat and then making its own pasta.
Schiltz points to Kalispell Kreamery as an already established example of value-added agriculture. Kalispell Kreamery processes its own milk onsite from cows raised on its farm. The company has found advantages to eliminating the middleman and doing everything itself.
“They’ve learned to add value to what they do,” Schiltz said. “It’s milk from cow to container.”
De Yong said Flathead farmers have a history of being entrepreneurial, consistently seeking out opportunities in crop diversification and value-added production. He said his department has recently received 21 applications for grant money to “add value on to raw materials,” and about half of them are from the Flathead region.
“I think Flathead farmers are really good about keeping their options open and seeing what’s coming up,” de Yong said. “They’ve always been very progressive up in the Flathead.”
Schiltz will address land management. He said his organization, Montana Land Reliance, is the largest land trust in Montana. According to its mission statement, the trust works with landowners “to provide permanent protection for private lands that are significant for agricultural production, forest resources, fish and wildlife habitat, and open space.”
Protecting land from subdivisions is essential to future agriculture, Schiltz said. If there’s no land to farm, both de Yong and Schiltz stress, there can be no farming.
“Some folks don’t understand what we do,” Schiltz said. “What I’m trying to do is educate people that each easement is different.”
Clark Krantz from Kalispell School District 5’s vocational agriculture center is bringing 40-60 kids potentially interested in agricultural careers. They are invited to ask questions at the end of the forum, Schiltz said.
Schiltz is inviting both farmers and interested members of the public to the event, which kicks off at 8 a.m. with doughnuts and coffee, followed by presentations until 12:30 and then lunch.
There is often a “disconnect” between the consumer and the farmer, Schiltz said, in which the general public fails to make the connection between their food and its source on the farm.
“People will go to the grocery store and get mad because a farmer in his tractor is slowing them down on the way there,” Schiltz said. “The farmer’s the one growing the food. We need to fix that disconnect.”
For more information, call Schiltz at (406) 837-2178.