Group pulls together farmers, advocates to streamline all facets of valley agriculture scene

Under a warm morning glow, farmer Todd Ulizio kneels between rows of vibrant lettuces, picking heads in colors of purple, green and reddish brown. He clips each plant so the leaves fall into a large tub to be washed, bagged and sold at the Thursday-evening farmers market in Columbia Falls.

Ulizio and his wife, Rebecca, own Two Bear Farm in Whitefish, one among the valley’s growing population of small organic producers. The farm is just one piece in the community food puzzle, a system that also include processors, distributors, consumers and recovery.

But Ulizio thinks these pieces could work better together.

He is one of seven steering-committee members of Glacier FEAST, an organization dedicated to bringing voices from the farming cycle together to identify ways they can help one another and support the expansion of the local food economy.

“I definitely think there’s more and more people seeking out healthy food,” Ulizio said. “Farmers markets are growing, there are more of them and the ones that exist are getting bigger. It’s still a very small fraction of our food system, but organics is the fastest-growing segment.”

Fellow steering-committee member Robin Kelson, owner of the Good Seed Company, said there could be opportunities to “connect the dots” if there is stronger communication among each part of the food system. For example, restaurant food waste could be returned to local farmers for composting instead of the landfill, or local producers could work together to get their products into grocery stores instead of focusing on independent efforts.

“No one has a desire to be an impediment, but if we make decisions without knowing the full picture we make decisions that make it more difficult,” Kelson said. “As all of us want this access to nourishing food, it’s a little more complex than we thought. There’s more pieces to it and more context in the community than you might first think.”

There are many advantages to locally grown food such as freshness, fewer chemicals and better nutrition, Ulizio said.

In the Flathead Valley alone there are more than 50 local farms and six weekly farmers markets. Gretchen Boyer, Glacier FEAST member and executive director of Farm Hands Nourish the Flathead, said the number of farms, markets and businesses that serve local products has ballooned from approximately 30 in the late 1990s to 134 today. However, the vast majority of our food — some 86 percent — is imported from outside the state, according to the Alternative Energy Resources Organization, a Helena-based group that promotes clean energy, healthy food and sustainable agriculture for Montana.

“We’ve moved away from a care-based approach to growing nutritious food and we’re now focused on growing yield,” Ulizio said. “That mindset from a business standpoint maybe makes sense, but on the individual consumer level, the eater level, is that worth the trade off?”

Another component of Glacier FEAST’s mission is to identify values the group wants to see embodied in the local food system and to inform consumers about the role that they play as “eaters.”

“As the consumer, you are voting every day with your wallet,” Ulizio explained. “The type of the food that you buy reinforces the way that it’s grown.”

Reporter Mackenzie Reiss can be reached at (406) 758-4433 or mreiss@dailyinterlake.com.

To help introduce the group and its mission, Glacier FEAST is hosting a farm-to-table dinner Saturday, Aug. 17, at Two Bear Farm featuring Montana-grown ingredients prepared by Three Forks Grille chef Chis Dimaio and Fork in the Road chef Tony Traina. An optional farm tour will take place at 5 p.m. with dinner at 5:45 p.m. Montana organic farmer Bob Quinn will also present on community food systems. Tickets are $75 per person and can be purchased at www.twobearfarm.com.

For more information about Glacier FEAST, send an email to info@farmhandsnourish.org.

Reporter Mackenzie Reiss can be reached at (406) 758-4433 or mreiss@dailyinterlake.com.