FVCC Campus Farm shares bounty with Flathead Food Bank
Dane Regan, left, FVCC farm manager, and Gray Isom, a student in the soil nutrients management program, mulch with organic wheat straw onto recently-planted garlic on Tuesday, Oct. 15. The straw acts as an insulator and helps to keep the garlic from pushing out of the ground as top layers of soil repeatedly freeze and thaw. (Casey Kreider photos/Daily Inter Lake)
Heather Estrada, Flathead Valley Community College agriculture program director and associate professor, with Dane Regan, farm manager, at the FVCC farm.
Dane Regan, left, FVCC farm manager, and Gray Isom, a student in the soil nutrients management program, mulch with organic wheat straw onto recently-planted garlic on Tuesday, Oct. 15. The straw acts as an insulator and helps to keep the garlic from pushing out of the ground as top layers of soil repeatedly freeze and thaw. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Spinach grows as part of a project by FVCC students testing different nutrient applications in the soil nutrients management program on Tuesday, Oct. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Crops grown by FVCC students in the soil nutrients management program include, from left, lettuce, spinach and wheat.
Wheat grows as part of a project by FVCC students testing different nutrient applications in the soil nutrients management program on Tuesday, Oct. 15. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Gray Isom, left, a student in the soil nutrients management program, and Dane Regan, FVCC farm manager, walk along the FVCC farm property on Tuesday, Oct. 15. Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Development director Jessica Bruinsma is pictured inside the Flathead Food Bank on Wedneday afternoon, Oct. 16. (Mackenzie Reiss/Daily Inter Lake)
This summer, the Flathead Valley Community College campus farm donated more than a ton — 2,200 pounds to be exact — of produce to the Flathead Food Bank, providing much-needed fresh vegetables to thousands of local individuals and families in need.
FVCC Farm Manager Dane Regan, who joined the campus staff in February, came up with the idea to donate surplus food the farm couldn’t sell or use on campus.
“I knew that food banks suffer from not having enough fresh produce,” Regan explained. “It just became part of my weekly routine.”
Every Monday during his lunch break, Regan delivered the farm’s surplus to the food bank throughout the summer. His most recent deposit consisted of 426 pounds of storage carrots, which according to food bank staff, were gone in a matter of hours.
“People who aren’t as fortunate don’t necessarily have access to some of this local food because it is priced pretty aggressively compared to other food,” he said. “So being able to step in and fill that need in any way that I could just felt like the right thing to do. It just kind of happened naturally.”
This year’s crops were grown and harvested by Regan along with a handful of student volunteers and student interns from the college’s integrated agriculture and food systems program. They employed a biologically intensive farming methodology, using the latest farming technologies to grow a large amount of food in a small space. This year also marks the fifth growing season on the farm.
The Campus Farm is in a unique position compared to other local producers, Regan noted. It’s supported by the college and relies on volunteer student labor, rather than a host of paid workers like a for-profit farm does, making it easier for the farm to freely offer their surplus. In addition to donating to the food bank, the farm first supplies the FVCC’s Eagle’s Nest Cafe, sells produce at a weekly farm stand on campus and supplies a small Community Supported Agriculture program largely supported by faculty and staff. They limit the sale of their crops to the campus community to avoid competing directly with farmers, who don’t have the extra resources the college does.
Food Bank Development Director Jessica Bruinsma said she received a little bit of everything from the college farm, including carrots, greens and potatoes.
“It’s great that it’s local — you literally can’t get any fresher than that,” she said.
The Flathead Food Bank serves 10,000 individuals and 4,500 families annually from Marion to Martin City. Each week, 400 to 500 families go through their doors and 10,000 pounds of food is distributed. While they supplement with produce purchased from the Montana Food Bank Network, donations like the contributions from FVCC help ensure that fresh food gets onto more local tables.
“Anyone can be one medical emergency or one job loss or one accident or one divorce away from having to utilize the food bank,” Bruinsma said. “Food is a basic human right and I think of the food bank as an emergency service. Every single person deserves access to healthy food that can help them feel their best.”
Reporter Mackenzie Reiss can be reached at mreiss@dailyinterlake.com or (406) 758-4433.
BREAKOUT:
The Flathead Food Bank is located at 1203 U.S. 2 and online at www.flatheadfoodbank.org. The food bank is open from 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, from 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and for donations only from 8 a.m. to noon on Fridays. To get food, simply go to the food bank. To volunteer, email info@flatheadfoodbank.com. For those interested in collaborating with the food bank, especially other local farms, email jessica@flatheadfoodbank.com.
On Nov. 7 from 6 to 8 p.m., the Flathead Food Bank is hosting an evening of free food and drinks to thank their supporters at the Gathering Place, 1203 U.S. 2 W. The public is welcome.