Harvesting Opportunity
Sowing Change at the Local Level
By Matt Singer, 3-16-05
Walking into a classroom on the second floor of Missoula’s school administration building on Monday night, it was clear that the meeting in question was a work session. Some groups have meetings where people speak at length, quotes are generated for reporters, and little actually gets accomplished. This was no such thing.
Missoula’s Food Policy Council working group is an outgrowth of years of work by Neva Hassanein and Maxine Jacobsen - both Associate Professors at The University of Montana, Bonnie Buckingham of the Missoula Food Bank, and dozens of students and community members.
When I walked in, Neva and Bonnie were setting up a table for the meeting. “We’re not expecting a large crowd,� Neva said. A number of regulars, it seemed, had emailed earlier in the day saying they were unable to come. Still, fifteen or twenty people wandered through the door in the coming minutes, including one newcomer who had heard about the group from recent media coverage.
The crowd was enthusiastic. The Missoula City Council and County Commission had just endorsed the Council’s proposal to create a Community Food and Agriculture Coalition in Missoula – a stakeholder committee comprised of people from the worlds of food preparation, transportation, production, and retail; land developers and attorneys; anti-hunger advocates and nutritionists that would promote dialogue and seek to achieve a number of policy goals. Specifically, the Coalition would look at ways to promote local food, as well as to coordinate local food-related matters, including hunger.
The working group that is meeting is already a model, in many ways, for this Coalition. The members sitting around the table work in a slow, consensus-based format – one that can be as frustrating at times as it is effective. When a student asks Neva how some element of a future project is to work, she turns it back, asking how the student thinks it should work.
The more formal Coalition is being sought as a means to ensure that all the relevant stakeholders are included in the recommendation process. The stakeholder model is not a new one, but collaborative processes have recently gained steam in the West, especially as a way to solve growth and environmental related disputes.
The bulk of the meeting was spent actively brainstorming names of people to approach about serving on the Coalition, followed by a brief discussion how these activists could maintain a level of involvement when it comes to local food issues. There was a sense in the room, though unspoken, that many of these people, while they understood the need for the stakeholder process, would be somewhat sad to pass the torch to a new committee to head these efforts.
Toward the end of the meeting, the enthusiasm came out. Following the work session, a series of updates allowed individuals to share information on projects they had been working on.
The projects have a broad range. A handful of students are working on what they call FEAT – Faith Encouraging Agricultural Ties. The idea is to harvest the goodwill of local congregations to help harvest additional fresh produce for local low-income families. Missoula has garden plots that can be shared, so people can do some simple work for food. “A youth group could work in exchange for food for a family,� explained Anastacia Kampe, one of the students involved.
Ethan Smith, another active member, is promoting what he calls a “gleaning� project, “capturing and using food that would otherwise be lost.� A fair amount of gleaning already occurs, especially in the Rattlesnake Valley, where apples are cleaned to prevent bears from wandering down into backyards, but much of the gleaning in and around Missoula is poorly coordinated and products often go to waste. Smith is trying to unite various projects into one coordinated effort that will put this currently wasted food to good use.
The most exciting announcement, in my opinion, was an update from Heidi DeArment of . Heidi wasn’t at the meeting, but others relayed the gist of the message: the possibility of an additional Saturday market in Missoula, focused on livestock products. Missoula’s downtown already has a number of meat markets, but a literal one on Saturday mornings sounds delicious.
The meeting wrapped up after about an hour and a half, but the enthusiasm was still palpable. As I left the building, I walked passed by a half dozen people still talking about food, that wonderful topic. If you’re interested in talking about food, find out more at the University’s , where you can apply to be a member of the Coalition or just learn more about their projects.
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