Family-based sustainable farming and ranching are good for Montana’s economy, our environment, and our rural communities. Montana is a better place when family farms and ranches are thriving.
Agriculture and Food
By ruin of farmers and rural communities, by erosion, pollution, and various kinds of industrial and urban development, we have ominously degraded and reduced the long-term food-producing capacity of our country.
– Wendell Berry, Citizenship Papers
Our Vision for Montana’s Food System
We are caretakers of Montana’s interconnected food chain. We are farmers, ranchers, gardeners. We are cooks, chefs, butchers, and grocers. We appreciate the connection that food creates among friends, families, and neighbors. We are intentional about the food we grow, raise, buy, and eat because our decisions affect the communities our children and grandchildren will inherit.
We believe that when food is properly valued, everyone flourishes. For our food chain to thrive, we need strong rural communities. When people living on the land have agency to make decisions about the policies and practices that protect our water, air, and soil, we create prosperity for all. We know that informed, regenerative agriculture must be part of the climate solution, and we see how caring for land and animals thoughtfully can restore balance to the earth’s ecosystems.
We are creating a world where healthy, local food is available and affordable to all, where animals are treated humanely, and where informed consumers support strong local food systems. We are working toward a future where fair prices are paid and all labor is valued so that workers can thrive alongside family agriculture. The Montana food system we are building inspires the next generation to get involved in local agriculture, continuing the stewardship of our working landscapes.
We must advance this work with urgency as we are losing grasslands, wildlife, water, and family farms and ranches. The pandemic laid bare the vulnerability of a food system in conflict with nature and built for corporations instead of communities. If we act now, with bold reforms and inspired cooperation, we can repair Montana’s damaged food chain and ensure sustained, prosperous, and healthful agriculture for generations to come.
