Farm to School connects kids with local farmers and the healthy, fresh food they produce. Farm to School expands food purchasing and education practices at schools and preschools to prioritize Montana-grown food.

Policy Recommendations

  • Create a state-funded grant program to support schools in purchasing Montana grown foods.
  • Provide state-funded partial reimbursement for schools’ purchases of Montana grown food.
  • Increase funding for wages for school nutrition staff to increase capacity for cooking high-quality meals

Many Montanans do not have adequate access to safe and nutritious foods that meet their dietary needs and preferences, making food security one of Grow Montana’s priorities.

Policy Recommendations

  • Support for the Supplemental Nutrition Incentive Program
  • Support for the Double SNAP Dollars
  • Support for Food Banks and Food Pantries
  • Support for Montana Produce Prescription Program
  • Support for Universal School Meals

Rural, remote and tribal communities have limited access to healthy Montana-grown food due to the lack of high-volume produce, grain, and pulse processing, packing, and storage facilities.

Policy Recommendations

  • Create a state-funded grant program for building and expanding processing capacity for Montana-grown and raised foods.
  • Develop a workforce training program for butchers and meat cutters in partnership with the Montana Department of Agriculture.
  • Increase funding and capacity for food safety education and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HAACP) training through MSU course offerings.
  • Support a Country of Origin of Labeling (COOL) requirements for beef and pork, knowing that this is a requirement for other foods, including chicken and lamb.

A resilient Montana food system is one that ensures diverse and competitive markets, with fair prices through the supply chain, with adequate state-support for small businesses and economic growth.

Policy Recommendations

  • Provide incentives to Montana businesses to purchase Montana grown and processed foods.
  • Continued funding for the 11 Montana Food & Agriculture Development Centers, which provide vital resources to food entrepreneurs, must be protected.

Farmers markets play a valuable role in promoting healthy communities. They are important food access points for customers and provide direct sales to vendors, which helps keep more money in the local economies.

Policy Recommendations

  • Ensure Farmers Markets have the agency and freedom to determine what products are sold at their markets.

Grow Montana supports policies that ensure food is produced in safe and sanitary conditions.

Policy Recommendations:

  • Uphold the Montana Cottage Food Law.
  • Play defense on policies that pose a risk to public health.
  • Support programs that offer reliable and consistent food safety and sanitation training to all food producers, including home cooks.

Soil is one of our greatest resources. It is the foundation for agriculture, and it plays a critical role in protecting the air we breathe, water we drink, and food we eat.

Policy Recommendations:

  • Adopt a Montana Healthy Soils Program to cost-share soil building practices and collect data on their benefits—including improving access to affordable and reliable soil health tests.
  • Fund Montana’s conservation districts to provide additional on-farm and ranch technical assistance.
  • Increase Montana processing capacity to support a more resilient and community-based food system, able to make use of a diversified cropping system.
  • Develop a mentorship program to enable soil champions to assist other growers who want to experiment with or adopt soil health practices.