Progress report for OW17-026

Over the past several months we have  identified the following:

Bozeman process and structure 

The Open & Local group formed on a similar timeline as the MFEI Steering Committee began gathering.  As O&L had a Steering Committee of their own established, it didn’t make sense for their MFEI participation to mirror the structure of the other regions – namely establishing a Regional Planning Team and working towards a regional strategic plan for the MFEI grant.  Thus, a unique path has been created by AERO and Open & Local, one that has already provided meaningful exchanges for both entities. AERO staff and the O&L Field Advisor meet in person or by phone monthly to exchange regional updates, brainstorm resources including upcoming trainings and food systems leaders, and discuss common challenges.  

Varying Availability During The Growing Season

As 2018 got up and running, our Regional Planning Teams had concrete goals laid out for the summer months.  The actual experience of summer productivity, however, varied quite a bit from region to region. The North Flathead team is comprised mostly of vegetable farmers and once the growing season picked up in pace (not long after their first community meeting in April 2018), their capacity to make progress on the MFEI grant decreased dramatically.  In contrast, both Malta and Helena regions organized and carried out their first community meetings during the summer and attendance was successful. The varying capacity of our Regional Planning Teams during the Montana growing season can be attributed to a few different factors, the individual make up of RPTs being the most influential one. These differences will be important for us to keep in mind as we approach the last leg of our grant.  The North Flathead team has already began frontloading their deliverables for the spring of 2019. Helena and Malta stakeholders will have additional availability as we approach summer.

Regional Planning Team Progress

Between April and December of 2018, each MFEI Region has made significant progress:

Helena

Helena’s first community meeting went smoothly in August 2018 with about thirty community members in attendance.  The bulk of the meeting was spent in small working groups with assigned facilitators charged with guiding the group through prepared questions.  After the community meeting, the Regional Planning Team (RPT) decided that in order to gather additional input from stakeholders that weren’t represented at the first meeting, it would be useful to design an additional survey.  Significant effort was made by the RPT members to distribute, collect, and synthesize the survey results.  From the twenty three surveys completed, the RPT learned that many of the challenges and needs described were similar to those identified at the larger community meeting as well as the many RPT meetings throughout the year: the need for marketing and business planning resources, education to the public about the value of local food, access to food storage space, and local processing opportunities for meat producers.  The RPT increased collaborative efforts with the East Helena Food Hub (EHFH) over the past several months. Our Field Advisor now serves on the hub’s Advisory Council. The EHFH is currently holding culinary training workshops and has plans to build a high tunnel greenhouse in the near future. A recent survey that the hub disseminated provides some insight into the community needs such as community gathering spaces, better food options and safe places for kids and teens to hang out.  One opportunity for future collaboration between our efforts is related to food production.  The producers involved in the MFEI project can help increase the EHFH’s capacity to source locally.  They can also align community garden efforts and continue to think creatively about how to attract new producers to the valley in the future.  The Helena RPT has outlined the beginning of a structure for their second community meeting which they plan to hold in the Spring of 2019.

Bozeman

AERO staff have continued our collaborative efforts with the Open & Local group over the past several months, attending workshops, presentations, local food celebrations all while meeting new stakeholders and promoting the MFEI program.  Our Field Advisor in Bozeman, Kate Wright, met the rest of the Steering Committee members in November 2018. Kate shared Open & Local’s progress with the other Field Advisors, providing insight as to how their group decided to pursue to formalize their structure into a non profit organization.  Open & Local has spent the better part of the last two years exploring what in particular they should focus their energy on in the realm of local food and land preservation. Over the course of that time, they’ve worked with Montana State University professors with the help of a seed grant. The grant funded a series of dialogues, strengthening their ties to the university, exploring what other food collaborations look like and assisting them in the development of an action plan.  Open & Local concluded that for the near future, their role is best fit to facilitate planning, networking, and collaboration to accelerate system change in their community. The regular check ins with Open & Local have been extremely valuable to the MFEI planning phase. Our continued exchange of resources, lessons learned, and ever expanding networks continue to strengthen the food economy network across the state.

North Flathead

Following their first community meeting in April 2018, the North Flathead RPT turned their attention to growing food for their community.  Once the farms were mostly put to bed for the season, the RPT got back to work. This was an important lesson for this region, as the majority of the RPT members are full time farmers.  Initially, the RPT had laid out ambitious plans to meet and conduct research over the summer. Once autumn approached and the plans were still in queue, the team readjusted their planning schedule for the remainder of the year.  The RPT members conducted research over the past few months on topics such as cooperative models, existing Montana local food campaigns, local food system models, distribution systems, and strategies for connecting with the public through educational campaigns.  The team spent time sharing their research findings and refining their focus and goals for the remainder of the MFEI planning grant. The RPT has set dates for their second and third community meetings, scheduled to take place in February and March of 2019. The third community meeting will coincide with the fourth Annual Free the Seeds Fair in Kalispell, MT.  More details about this event can be found in the success story section of this report. Returning to the roots of the planning process, the RPT spent time over the last month discussing the values of the group. They agreed that their collective values should be clearly reflected in the strategic plan produced over the next few months. Another important discussion point with the RPT has been around the invite list for the second community meeting.  In order for the data collected at that meeting to be the most meaningful and accurate, the RPT is giving the invite list some serious consideration. A much more selective and targeted approach to stakeholder engagement will likely take place prior to the second community meeting.

Malta

The Malta region has a loosely organized Regional Planning Team, with a commercial kitchen and woolen mill owner as Field Advisor leading the conversations and discussions for the project.  In July of 2018, the original RPT lost members due to miscellaneous circumstances, so AERO and the FA, Thayne Mackey, discussed having Jackie Heinert, AERO’s Local Food Systems Coordinator begin assisting the RPT.  After several discussions, Jackie Heinert was put in place as the Malta region’s RPT chair, where she has worked to continue communication and outreach in the region. This region is the largest in the MFEI project, but includes the smallest population of people.  

The FA held several informal conversations between the March 2018 SC meeting and an August 2018 community meeting in Malta.  Extension Agents, restaurants, schools, daycares, hospitals, distributors, butchers, grocery stores, bulk processors, gardeners, truck gardens, and food banks provided feedback and helped the FA determine the most common issues for the region.  The concerns they identified include: available transportation of raw products and finished goods, regulation and law education, conflicting regulations with Local, State and Federal Entities, and information access.

Despite the challenges of distance and busy producer schedules, the FA coordinated a joint Farm to Table dinner and community meeting in Malta, which AERO staff attended.  At the meeting, there were 15 local producers and food industry individuals. AERO spoke briefly about MFEI desired outcomes and the method of producer-led conversations to gather data about challenges and desires regarding local food economy improvement.  The above identified issues were presented to the attendees and clarifying discussions and further input was recorded. (Malta Community Meeting Notes linked below)

During this trip, AERO scheduled meetings with Bear Paw Meats, Sleeping Buffalo Greenhouse, Hinsdale’s Agriculture Educator, Malta’s Farm to School program, Brookside Woolen Mill, Hi-line Kitchen and Processing center, and Wasson Farm & Ranch to gather additional input and make connections to producers in this portion of Montana.  The diversity of the region in terms of producers’ geography, agricultural practices, and community-building techniques highlighted a need for additional capacity and input from the RPT chair, Jackie Heinert, AERO’s Local Food Systems Coordinator. Following the community meeting and tours, Jackie interviewed additional producers and business owners in the region to ensure the information gathered was far-reaching and thorough.

• MFEI Community Meeting Notes – Malta Region
• Wickes Farm – Mark Wickes Notes
• Farver Farms – Shauna Farver Notes
• Hinsdale K-12 Ag Teacher  – Patti Armbrister email

As part of the planning process, there have been many solutions suggested for solving the concerns and challenges, and these have been documented for future consideration in the Regional Summary Document (link here)  

This region has experienced numerous challenges in carrying out the objectives of this project.  The main issue has been identifying members that have the capacity to commit to meetings and the project due to their geographical distance from each other, and work, family, and community commitments.  In Montana’s rural communities, producers often serve on planning boards, participate in school activities, and have steady production schedules that preclude additional meetings. In sharing the project and planning process with regional producers,  AERO has struggled with communicating the planning process steps and language lined out in the grant.  Many producers in the region do not recognize when work they are already doing is fulfilling those steps, and AERO has been ineffective in conveying the value of their current contribution in Montana’s food system.  This has added unanticipated RPT time to make direct contacts to explain the grant and planning process. Additionally, being physically located 5 hours from this region has prevented AERO from direct contact with producers in all the small communities.

Discussions about a late-winter follow-up community meeting have begun, and AERO will be continue to be involved in ongoing discussions and planning.

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At our first Steering Committee meeting we identified the following:

1. One field advisor, Eric Bergman, would not be able to fulfill his role. Since the WSARE application was filed, he took a position with the Great Falls Food and Agriculture Development Center, which presented a conflict of interest. While still personally invested in the work of this project, it was necessary that he step down as a field advisor. AERO will work to keep Eric in the loop regarding our progress.  
2. The Billings region, that was identified as a project area, is not a good fit for this funding. With input from our field advisor for that region, Tom Tschida, we reached out to Northern Plains Resource Council regarding a food hub that was being established in the Billings area. Upon extensive examination with Tom and NPRC, it was determined that the plans for the food hub in Billings were far enough along that a planning project such as ours, with an intention of producing a strategic plan for the region, would not be a good use of resources or capacity. We contacted WSARE and gained permission to explore Bozeman as an alternate location that would be better suited to our project opportunity. 
3. Brooke Bohannon, and the North Flathead Valley region were excited and ready to get involved. They had a strong group identity formed already.  However, the inclusion of Browning in this region was not appropriate. There is one producer working and living in the Flathead that makes deliveries to the Browning region, and AERO has a strong relationship with him, but he is currently the only link connecting these two distinct food economies. This group determined that Scott (the producer) would continue to be a part of their group, but that they would focus on developing a strategic plan for the North Flathead Valley specifically, correctly asserting that Browning has its own food economy with distinct challenges from their own. The group estimates that the best way to assist surrounding economies like Browning, is to concentrate on developing a robust food economy that addresses their specific issues.
4. Thayne Mackey leads our Malta region as our Field Advisor. He assembled a Regional Planning Team of invested stakeholders that reside within a two hundred mile area. This reflects the many miles of highway that connect sparse populations in Central and North-Central Montana. The miles between the members on this Regional Planning Team make this group particularly unique with the challenge of creating opportunities for in person meetings. The Malta team has convened mostly by telephone, with the majority of the interactions taking place between two or three members at a time.

Between the first Steering Committee meeting and April of 2018, each of our regional groups have made significant strides within their Regional Planning Teams:

1. Kate and Ian McLean serve as co-Field Advisors for our Helena region and have assembled a diverse group of stakeholders for their Regional Planning Team including farmers, a rancher, a produce department manager, and the director of the local food pantry. Some of the team members had not met each other prior to the first Regional Planning Team meeting and the growing relationships between this group have been valuable in and of itself over the past few months. The group has identified common challenges in the region, the biggest one being the lack of existing farm production in the Helena Valley. The team meetings have produced creative brainstorm sessions highlighting possible foci for the group such as farm land accessibility, a farm incubator program, potential demand data and beginning farmer education programs to name a few.
2. Our ‘new’ regional focus in the Bozeman community has resulted in a fruitful partnership with the Open & Local group, with Kate Wright, the liaison between their Steering Committee and our MFEI Steering Committee. Open & Local is a growing network of professionals and community members working to strengthen the Gallatin Valley’s local food economy and conserve open space. Over the past several months, AERO staff and Kate have had regular phone meetings, discovering both the parallel paths the groups are on as well as the opportunities to learn from each other’s process, group dynamics, meeting topics an structure, and much more. An Open & Local meeting in early March 2018 helped shape the first community meeting the North Flathead Valley Regional Planning Team organized. We look forward to continuing this unique partnership as we move forward in planning regional food economies around state.
3. In the North Flathead Valley, the Regional Planning Team held their first community meeting in early April 2018, attracting almost 40 participants ranging from farmers and ranchers to educators and nutrition experts to interested community members. The Regional Planning Team members did an excellent job facilitating small group conversations and sharing identified common topic threads with the entire room. Next steps have been identified by the Regional Planning Team and a timeline has been created for the next few months, both of which have been communicated to the community meeting attendees.
4. Similar to the North Flathead Regional Planning Team, the Malta team has assembled a group of mostly farmers who are leading their planning process. Their conversations identified early on the largest challenge in their region – distribution miles in between communities. Other important topics identified by the group include growing more food in the region and the desire to process more local food as opposed to shipping it far away for processing. The group shared resources and potential strategies related to Farm to School programs and existing marketing tools.