Local food coop gathers steering committee
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RONAN - A demand for fresh, local food is on the rise around the country. As the Nation’s economy continues to struggle, Montanans have ideas for providing a local co-op for the area would provide more jobs and income for the community. Many local food producers believe that by starting a local co-op, a large amount of revenue could stay in the valley, providing jobs, and access to fresh, healthy food.
The Mission Valley has a rich heritage of producing large numbers of crops annually to be shipped outside our Lake County borders. For the last year, Jason Moore and Karl Sutton at Mission Mountain Food Enterprises and Get Well Montana, have been working nonstop to find a way to keep local foods here, and to also keep the money spent on those goods in the area.
On Wednesday, Aug. 31, Sutton and Moore hosted a dinner at the Mission Mountain Market in Ronan to see how many community members were interested in starting a steering committee for a revolutionary online consumer food cooperative for the Mission Valley through an organization called “Get Well Montana.” As a co-op, the business would be governed by the owners, and democratically owned.
“I never expected this large of a crowd,” Sutton said as he welcomed more than 30 interested people from as far north as the Flathead Valley. There were also special guests from Florida and California, who came to learn more about local food cooperatives and take information back to their own communities.
“The idea is by having owners be consumers and producers we will be able to spread the shared wealth to all the members of the community,” Moore said. “We want to build on what’s successful out there already. To do this we need to come together and make it available for everyone.”
In 2008, the Flathead Food and Fitness Coalition started looking at the same things Get Well Montana is planning on implementing into the co-op. They researched local food access, how to locate foods, and distribution methods to set the groundwork knowledge that Get Well plans to build upon in the future, into motion.
He added that it’s not just about the food, but the overall health and wellness of the community that’s at stake.
“We need to make it easy for people to produce, sell, and buy local,” Moore said. “ And get it to them in the shortest amount of time.”
To start off the meeting, Sutton asked the group to answer four questions concerning challenges they face, current opportunities that exist to increase access to local foods, and what potential developments could increase access.
Later, the group discussed the four questions in an attempt to figure out how they can make a local food co-op possible. Challenges brainstormed by the group included not knowing where to access the foods, how to provide fresh foods in the winter and the lack of a network for transactions between produce sellers and buyers. The group agreed that these challenges can be overcome if they work cohesively to bring a viable co-op to Ronan.
According to Moore, the state of Montana currently consumes only four percent of it’s own produced food.
“Our local economy is failing,” Moore said. “Money is being sent overseas for most of our consumable products while our local people don’t have jobs.”
By growing and consuming 15 percent of our own food, it would keep $225 million annually in Montana, and $66 million in western Montana alone, according to Moore.
Currently, their goal is to build “the best online local food coop in the world.” Moore added that he has viewed more than 100 similar websites, taking the best ideas so the website is user friendly and easily accessible for all.
“The easiest way to buy is from a website,” Moore said.
Many ideas for distribution arose from the group, such as possibly opening a store, or various drop-off points which would be manned by volunteers, who would be compensated with food coupons.
Moore recently visited one of the largest co-op businesses in the nation, in Oklahoma City, Okla. The distribution site is capable of serving 5,000 individuals through 30 drop-off locations. Moore says he would like to take certain ideas from the successful co-op to implement into Get Well. The Oklahoma business is run through a website, which also sells home decor, jewelry, kitchen items, music, art and pet care items alongside fresh produce.
Moore finished his talk by mentioning the benefits that would come from having a fresh food co-op in the Mission Valley. He says people would gain access to the freshest and healthiest foods and locally made products. The community can join together and get connected with local food sources and other sustainable groups.
When asked how many in the group could survive in the winter if the trucks bringing in foods stopped, only a few raised their hands.
“We need to get really connected with the community,” Moore said.
After Moore’s presentation, Sutton asked the group to sign up for the steering committee to get the project rolling.
“This is very important for our community,” one group member said. “Let’s make it happen. We can push for it.”
“We have to all help each other,” another group member added. “This is a community thing.”
