A group of individuals and organizations within the Butte community participated in a community food systems assessment facilitated by an MFEI staff member. This toolkit contains some of their data and results.
Learn more about greenwashing and what can be composted from Montana composting companies that offer commercial services to close the loop on compostable products.
Get to Know Your Montana Food System video series showcases leaders from diverse food system sectors in Montana sharing about their work. In the videos, interviewees share about their experience from their food system sector or asset area, challenges they face, areas of opportunity, and recommendations for community food systems across the state in their line of work.
The MFEI Project framework is a set of processes, conversations, and suggested tasks that provide guidance and structure for the execution of an MFEI Community project. The framework can help groups map out the progression of individual project steps, from beginning to completion.
This form was developed to assist communities in determining what the may want to consider in setting up an MFEI Montana Food Connections type of project.
The story of how the Montana Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative collected seeds and created seed bundles from indigenous seeds to distribute to interested communities across the state.
Gallatin Valley Botanical grew 2 acres of carrots – an easily stored, kid-friendly vegetable – to supply schools and the local food bank in Gallatin Valley. They developed a community harvest model to help support this production.
MSU Food Product lab began developing a smoked lake trout product that would be made and sold by a tribal entity on and off the Flathead Reservation to increase food sovereignty, increase access to this item and make it into a more user friendly product to be sold in groceries and restaurants.
The Rocky Boy Food Sovereignty team conducted a kamut fry bread taste test with Rocky Boy Reservation students.
MSU Food Product Development student, Genesis Chavez, developed a nutritious snack cracker, Wasna Bite Crackers, inspired by pemmican and is representative of Flathead Reservation traditional foods.
The goal of the MSU Food Product Lab’s Bonbon Bouye project is to manufacture and commercialize the Bonbon Bouye peanut nutrition bar in the United States. Bonbon Bouye is a nutritious and shelf stable value-added food product currently being developed for production in four communities in Senegal.
Fort Belknap community member, Lynn Cliff Jr. created a DIY biochar kiln in order to create soil amendments to help support food production in a Fort Belknap Community garden. Working with the Red Paint Community in Lodgepole, MT they created the kiln out of a metal barrel.
The Gallatin Conservation District built a Vermicomposting Bin for our Education and Outreach Center with the help of many volunteers. This bin will serve as an educational tool for the community and will help us compost food waste and yard trimmings from our Education and Outreach Center Gardens which will provide nutrients for our raised beds and potted plants.
Hear from three leading figures in compostable packaging to help guide your cottage-food packing choices.
This work was made possible by funding from Western Extension Risk Management Education (WERME) and Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (WSARE). The material is based upon work that was supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2019-38640-29880 through the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under project number WRGR20-009. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Montana Food System Resource Library