More Montana-made foods could be coming soon to a school lunchroom near you, thanks to a bill that is currently before the Montana House of Representatives.
HB-471, otherwise known as the Farm to School bill, would provide competitive seed grants to Montana K-12 schools to help them buy and serve Montana-grown or produced food in school lunches. The intent of the bill is to create new markets for Montana’s producers, reinvigorate local economies, and improve the nutrition and quality of school lunches.
“Farm to School” efforts, which connect schools and local farms and ranches in order to serve local foods in school cafeterias, are gaining momentum in Montana; in a recent survey conducted by the Farm to Cafeteria Network, over 17 school districts reported that they are trying to serve Montana foods, including beef, wheat, lentils, melons, squash, pasta, honey, apples, carrots, beans, eggs, milk and more. But with an average of just one dollar per student to spend on food at lunch, schools don’t have much room for experimenting with new foods and suppliers. “Farm to School programs are shown to improve student nutrition and knowledge about food and agriculture. This bill helps facilitate that, by giving schools the extra seed funding they need to figure out how to bring more local, healthy food into their lunchrooms,” said co-sponsor Ellie Hill (D-Missoula).
When schools buy Montana foods, it helps farmers, ranchers and processors too. Each day, over 80,000 Montana students eat school lunch, and annually Montana’s public K-12 schools spend over $19 million on food for lunches. According to bill sponsor Greg Hertz (R-Ronan), “Schools can be a stable, high-volume market for our producers. But just like any new business, or new purchasing policies, it takes some short-term seed capital to get going. This grant program would help schools and producers start working together, so that they can build strong, long-lasting relationships.”
HB-471 recently passed out of the House Agriculture committee with a bi-partisan vote of 13-4. “We are so thankful to the Representatives that voted for the bill. I think that they, like us, realize that helping schools develop ways to purchase from Montana’s producers is a smart investment for Montana,” said Stephanie Potts, staff member at the National Center for Appropriate Technology and coordinator for Grow Montana, a broad-based coalition that is leading efforts on the Farm to School bill.
The Montana House of Representatives is likely to vote on HB-471 this week.
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