Land group hosts ag forum in Kalispell

The Montana land Reliance will host the eighth annual Flathead Valley Agricultural Forum on Thursday, Dec. 6 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kalispell. The half-day program starts at 8 a.m.

This year’s forum will present David Brown, the livestock breeder from Montana Ranch Inc., a local Black Angus producer, who will explore some of the most progressive cattle breeding/marketing techniques practiced in the valley. The forum will also feature a discussion on the soil health impacts of grazing by Natural Resources Conservation Service representative Ben Montgomery and continue with a presentation by Race King, manager of the La Cense Ranch, who will describe his success with large scale, high-density grazing. Finally, John Youngberg, vice president of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation, will talk about opportunities for young professionals entering the field of agriculture.

Montana Land Reliance is a private land trust that works to develop voluntary conservation easements with private landowners. Its mission is to partner with private landowners to permanently protect agricultural lands, fish and wildlife habitat, and open space. As the largest fully accredited statewide land trust in the United States, the Montana Land Reliance has protected over 1,000,000 acres of agriculturally, ecologically and historically important private land in Montana, along with over 1,750 miles of stream bank.

The forum will be open to the community at no charge.

For more information contact Mark Schiltz at 837-2178 or mark@mtlandreliance.org.