BUTTE — Do you know where your food comes from? Well, a group of people in the Mining City are looking to teach children about Montana-grown food products.
"When we educate children, that’s the longest lasting impact; that changes lives," says Abbie Phillip, the coordinator for round table discussions about local food systems.
According to the National Center for Appropriate Technology, local food systems consist of production, processing, distribution, consumption of food, and waste management. Philip says the group is turning their focus to schoolchildren.
"Farm-To-School really helps to solidify the importance of the local food system: eating well, contributing, being a part of growing food at the earliest level, and that’s children," says Phillip.
"Butte is not an agricultural community but we are surrounded by a lot of local foods," says Maura Henn, the local food specialist with the National Center for Appropriate Technology in Butte.
Hen says locally produced eggs, milk, butter, meat, as well as root vegetables can all be found right here in western Montana.
"One of the key aspects of Farm-To-School is really helping students understand where their food is coming from so that they have more of a connection to it and can maybe make better decisions about the foods they are eating later in life," says Henn.
As Henn and collaborator Jennifer Friedberg sort through locally sourced beets, parsnips, and spinach to prepare for an upcoming round table discussion to plan for Farm-to-School movement in Butte, I ask Friedberg why should people care about where their food comes from?
"I think we should all care because if you’re purchasing more local foods you’re supporting those businesses and farmers that are within your community," says Friedberg.
She says locally sourced foods can be kept on the shelf longer because they are more fresh and have not traveled a length of time to get to a supermarket shelf, but having access to fresh veggies can also benefit health.
"When we live in a community with moderate to low or poor health outcomes, nutrition is a cornerstone to counteracting the epidemic of chronic disease in communities," says Phillip.
The farm-to-school movement in Butte is still in its planning stages, but the group has submitted several grants to move the project along.
