Glendive, Montana: Farm to Table Coop

By Jessica Valois and Brenda Frick

In small town eastern Montana, Bruce Smith gives new meaning to buying fresh and local. Smith is the 4-H agent and Dawson County Extension Officer in Glendive Montana. Along with a small team of other empowered individuals, he is working towards creating a co-op that operates around small scale processing.

These enthusiasts want to regain control of their food system and of their rural community.

Farmers receive only 7 to 9 percent of consumer food dollars, and a large percentage of food is imported into the area. The economy in this rural area has been dropping significantly; people can’t find jobs, and they’re leaving. The Farm to Table food co-op could not be emerging at a better time. By creating a local and more sustainable food system, a network of willing individuals, and an elaborate marketing plan within the area, they are poised to make positive changes in the region. Smith believes entrepreneurship is the key. The coop’s innovations could attract more residents to the area as well as stabilize the economy. In addition, Farm to Table would also be supplying healthier and higher quality food to its community.

The co-op is currently in an early stage of development; however it has already secured a principal building for its operations. Using a building that was previously a mental health centre brings efficiency and helps to meet community needs. Members have access to meeting rooms, a kitchen for weighing and proportioning ingredients for small consumer packages, and for baking breads, and for testing out new nutritious recipes using the food products obtained through the co-op. They even have use of a small mill to grind flour. Currently, the Farm to Table co-op produces flour, barley flakes, and bean and soup mixes in small packages available to the public for purchase. On the coop grounds, small community gardens are equipped with growing tunnels designed to extend the growing season by 30 to 60 days and increase the range of produce that can be grown.

Also in the works is a culinary arts school where people, young and old, can become trained in the creation of local and seasonal food dishes. This facet of the co-op program is also intended to give the participants the tools and skills necessary to manage a restaurant business. The restaurant and microbrewery will also bring potential job opportunities and supplement the low availability of restaurants in the area. This is of particular value as Glendive is located right off a primary highway. It not only has the potential to provide good food to its community, but also to visitors and those passing by on the highway.

Although there are plenty of tangible facets to the Farm to Table co op, perhaps its most powerful assets are the values, passion and purpose behind the co op. Smith shares one of his favourite quotes: “Your food is killing you and your food system is killing your community”. This powerful citation by Mike Callicciate keeps Smith focused on his goal of rural community survival. This is important today, and for the future. To keep rural communities alive and thriving, they must transitioning farming knowledge and operation over to the younger generation.

Food to Table invests in the future. They pride themselves on the quality of their businesses and their lives in their community. They have a participatory approach to decision making, and in their mission statement they include important elements such as solving health care problems, primarily done through the access of healthy foods; and being aware of competitive positioning for the co op’s products, of economic development programs and of the physical environment.

Strong support of education, a cooperative community spirit and the acceptance of women in leadership roles are also components of the Farm to Table co op’s mission statement.

With a town no bigger than 8,000, and with only 50,000 people in a 100 mile radius, Glendive is challenging the usual marketing wisdom that you need to be close to major urban centres. Without waiting for opportunities to come their way, the Farm to Table co op is embracing the resources they have in order to create their own opportunities. It was an admirable innovation and an inspiring experience that left me once again questioning my own community’s food networking ability. Surely we can step up to the plate and own our food as well.

The Glendive co-op’s bumper sticker reads “Who’s Your Farmer?” The Glendive experience suggests that putting farmers and eaters together is a worthy goal.
Where does that leave us here on the Canadian side of the Prairies? An important first step is for consumers (and that would be all of us, of course) is to seek out quality local food. Some of this is at the local Farmers’ Market. The Saskatchewan Organic Directorate and the GO network of Alberta have online producer directories, for both wholesale buyers and local consumers. The Organic Food Council of Manitoba publishes an annual guide. In addition, the EatWellGuide provides an online search for local producers. Finding local food and local farmers is getting easier all the time.

 

Jessica Valois reports on this project as part of her summer student employment at the University of Saskatchewan. Brenda Frick, Ph.D., P.Ag., is the Organic Research and Extension Coordinator at the University of Saskatchewan and is an affiliate of the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada. She welcomes your comments at 306-966-4975 or via email at organic@usask.ca.

 

Posted December 2009