Community Presentation -- Western Montana's Local Food and Farm Economy

[Karl Sutton]

Dear Community Member,

Western Montana farmers lose approximately $31 million each year and spend nearly $80 million buying farm supplies from suppliers outside the region. Moreover, western Montana consumers spend approximately $749 million buying food each year and purchase $680 million on food from outside the region. If western Montana consumers purchased only 15% of the food they need for home use directly from the region’s farmers, this would generate approximately $66 million of new farm income to the region.

The High Stakes Foundation, Alternative Energy Resources Organization, Community Food and Agriculture Coalition, Nourish the Flathead,  New West, and Lake County Community Development Food and Agriculture Center invite you to an evening with Ken Meter, a farm and food system analyst with the Crossroads Resource Center. Meter recently completed a Western Montana Local Farm and Food Economy study that covers Flathead, Lake, Missoula, Ravalli and Sanders Counties. The study highlights the economic opportunities and challenges that exist in western Montana’s food and farm economies.

 

Please join us for a presentation and discussion on our local food and farm economies. The presentation will occur March 16^th in Ronan at the Ronan Middle School Auditorium, 421 Andrew ST NW, from 6pm—8pm. Contact Karl Sutton, Food and Agriculture Program Coordinator, at Lake County Community Development, 406-676-5901 x114 for more details.

Karl Sutton
Program Coordinator
Mission Mountain Food Enterprise Center
A program of Lake County Community Development 
407 Main Street SW
Ronan, MT 59864
406-676-5901
www.mmfec.org
www.lakecountycdc.org