FOOD MATTERS

Highlights from theMissoula County

Community Food AssessmentWhy Food Matters

Food is a basic need. Yet, most of us know little aboutwhere it comes from, the conditions under which it was produced, and how it got from there to here. To understandfood issues in a community, we need to learn about the entirefood system from production, processing, and distribution tofood consumption. One way to build our understanding is toconduct a community food assessment.

What is a Community Food Assessment?A Community Food Assessment (CFA) is a systematic,

participatory approach to investigating a wide range of localissues and assets related to food and farming and the linksbetween these and community goals. Its broad purpose is toinform and build support for change actions to make thecommunity more food secure.

What is the Missoula County Community Food Assessment?

In spring 2003, University of Montana faculty initiated aCFA to gain a better understanding of Missoula County’sfood system. To incorporate community input, a diversesteering committee representing 15 different organizationsand interests in the local food and farming system cametogether to plan the CFA. The committee identified the following questions to investigate:

• What is needed for viable and sustainable, commercialfood production in Missoula County? What are the existing assets and barriers to creating a more viableand sustainable production system?

• What concerns do Missoula County residents of various income levels have about food? What do theyperceive as the County’s food-related assets?

The committee also provided input into the researchprocess, and developed recommendations based on the findings. UM undergrad and grad students were key participants in the process. We highlight some of the findingshere. For more information, see Food Matters: Farm Viabilityand Food Consumption in Missoula County.

Our Agricultural FutureWarning Signs: Loss of WorkingFarms and Ranches

Missoula County is losing its working farms (includes ranches). Consider these indicators from the 2002 U.S. Census of Agriculture and other government sources:

• Officially, there were 641farms in Missoula County in2002, but 60% of them had sales of less than $2,500.

• Fewer than half of the farms actually harvested crops from the land. The number of acreswhere crops were harvesteddropped by 20% between 1997and 2002.

• Farms are becoming smaller insize. By 2002, the average farmsize was 403 acres, a drop of 9%since 1997.

• Over 10,000 acres were subdivided between 1990 and2000. Flat lands previously inagriculture are among the mostcommon areas to be developed.

These and other trends suggestthat many of our smaller farms maybe primarily rural residences withagricultural enterprises playing a fairlyminor role.

Hearing from Farmers and Ranchers

Community food securityrequires that we have farmers andfarmland. Therefore, one of the central aims of the CFA was to identify what is needed to sustainagriculture in Missoula County. Wedecided to ask farmers and ranchersthemselves, in order to draw on theirexperiences and knowledge. To dothis, we conducted a telephone surveywith 52 farmers and ranchers (80% ofthose we asked agreed to participate).To go more deeply into relevant topics, we also conducted in-depthinterviews with 13 other farmers andranchers, as well as a focus groupwith 11 Hmong vendors from theMissoula Farmers’ Market. Here arejust a few of the many findings.

State of Agriculture in Missoula County

As the chart below illustrates, thevast majority of survey respondentsthink that agriculture in MissoulaCounty is struggling. The source of that struggle is often two interconnected problems: low economic returns from farming anddevelopment pressures.

Effects of DevelopmentNearly 58% of the farmers and

ranchers surveyed felt that their operations are affected by

development trends. Of those 30 respondents, 22 (74%) considered those effects negative, four saw developmentas positive, three were neutral,and one was undecided.

“Growth is making theplace worth more, whichmakes it tempting to sellfor development. You justdon’t make money from

ranching, but love to do it.”

– local rancher

Low Economic Returns

Of those we surveyed, 98% saidthat the cost of producing their cropsor livestock was a “very significant”or “somewhat significant” problemwhen it comes to keeping their farmor ranch in operation. For 88% ofthe respondents, recent prices fortheir crops or livestock was viewed asa problem.

Hmong Market Gardeners

Members of the Hmong community make up about 40% of all vendors at Missoula’s Farmers’Market, and they contribute muchfood to the Missoula Food Bank.Gardening is interwoven into Hmongculture, and is an especially importantactivity for families, including bothyoung and old. Some of those wespoke with are concerned aboutaccessing land for their market gardens, and they would like to seethe Farmers’ Market grow and extendits hours.

“[Gardening’s] importantbecause for the Asians likeus…It makes us happy whenyou walk through the gardensand see everything growing up,it makes us feel so happy andexcited. Also food for ourfamilies, we are the kind ofpeople who eat a lot of vegetables, so that is important to us. So always we are reminded of what wedid in Laos, its not that muchdifferent here.”

– Hmong market gardener

Farmers’ and Ranchers’ Views on the State of Agriculture in

Missoula County (N=52)

Don’t Know (1.9%) Doing well

(3.8%)

Struggling (71.2%)

Just OK (21.2%)

Missing (1.9%)

According to Farmers and Ranchers (N=52), to ProtectFarmland, Missoula County...

Doing rightamount (7.7%) Don’t

know (3.8%)

Should domore (65.4%)

Missing (15.4%)

Is doing toomuch (7.7%)

“The biggest thing that weighs on my mind is that youhave his grandfather, mygrandfather, my dad, and nowme. And I don’t want to be theone that goes, ‘Okay, let’s justcash out, put the money in thebank’ and you know, live highoff the hog… I feel a sense ofresponsibility… If you thinkabout all the blood, the sweat,the tears, the child death, coldwinters, hot summers, theDepression, two World Wars,all those things. That weighsheavily on me.”

– local farmer

The Steering Committee forthe Community Food Assessmentand its University of Montana partners hope these recommenda-tions will inspire community dialogue about the future of foodand farming in Missoula County.The first recommendationdescribes how the specific policiesand activities in the other recommendations could bebrought about. See the full report,Food Matters, for more details.

Create a multi-stakeholder, foodpolicy coalition that addresses

community needs related to food and agriculture in a comprehensive, systematic, and creative way.

Improve food quality and access to healthy foods at

emergency food services and elsewhere in the County.

Work with relevant advocacy organizations to create public

education campaigns around thehuman right to food, and expand thecurrent dialogue around cost-of-livingconcerns to include food issues.

Develop a strong community-based food system that supports

local farmers and ranchers, and meets consumers’ interest in access to locally-grown food.

Identify and assess strategies forprotecting and assisting working

farms and ranches, and for keepingagricultural land affordable for farming and ranching.

Investigate further the extent towhich transportation to grocery

stores and food pantries is a concernfor low-income residents throughoutthe County.

Farmers and Consumers ShareGoal of More Local Food

In today’s global food system, food changes hands about33 times between the farm and the supermarket shelf, andtravels an average of 1,300 miles to reach our plates.Interestingly, in our study farmers and ranchers want toshorten the distance between the field and the consumer.Seventy-one percent of the farmers and ranchers surveyed are interested in marketing more of their produce and livestock locally. Farmers and ranchers see advantages interms of profits, as well as increasing connections betweenproducers and consumers; however, they also see barriers interms of access to local markets and limited food processinginfrastructure.

At the other end of the food chain, 60% of consumerswere concerned about how far away the food they eat comesfrom. They expressed a strong interest in buying locallygrown and produced food with 55% indicating they wouldlike to see more local foods in the grocery stores. Consumers,however, are also concerned about the price of locally grownfood. A major challenge is to devise strategies that meet theeconomic needs of both farmers and consumers.

What Do Eaters ThinkAbout Food?

Understanding eaters’ food-related concerns and assets is a firststep toward addressing communityfood security. To learn about eaters’concerns, we administered 624 surveys to County residents with various income levels and we conducted two focus groups with 19low-income County residents.

Food Quality Concerns LoomLarge for Eaters

Food quality issues such as foodsafety, pesticide residues on food, eating organic, food freshness andnutritional value were the mostimportant food-related concerns. Of all these issues, food safety is paramount on eaters’ minds. Almost82% of survey respondents perceivedfood safety as at least somewhat of aproblem or concern for them.

Community Food Security“Community food security is a

condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturallyacceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes communityself-reliance and social justice.”Montana is among five other stateswhose relative hunger status hasworsened since 1996. A number ofrecent trends compromise food security in Missoula County:

• Only 30% of the students eligibleto participate in the Free andReduced School Lunch Programin the County actually participat-ed from 1999 through 2002.

• About 6% of the County’s population received food stampsin an average month; but nearly15% of the population livedbelow the poverty line.

• Most emergency food providersin the County have seen anincrease in the need for and useof their services.

• In 2002, clients made nearly31,300 visits to the MissoulaFood Bank; that number was up19% from four years prior (1998).

Sixty-five percent of surveyrespondents identified that havingenough money to buy the food theyneeded for themselves and their families was at least somewhat of aproblem or concern for them. Forty-three percent of survey respondentsindicated that they limit meals at leastsome of the time due to a lack ofmoney and approximately 35%skipped a meal at least some of thetime due to lack of money.

“I have to eat foods that arevery cheap like potatoes,breads... a lot of that type of stuff.” – consumer

“I think a lot of pesticides andpreservatives cause a lot of ourhealth problems today.”

– consumer

Tough Choices for Low Income Residents

Any discussion of hunger or foodinsecurity must address the ability topurchase food. Wages have not keptup to cost-of-living increases inMissoula County. Close to 77% of thesurvey respondents identified that theprice of food they like to eat is at leastsomewhat of a problem for them.Low-income respondents were morelikely to consider the price of food toohigh, especially those foods they feltwere healthier and more nutritious.

“It’s frustrating how…survival has become a moneything...the ones that have themoney can afford food.”

– consumer

The top cost-of-living concern forsurvey respondents was personalwages being too low. Almost half ofthe 19 focus group participantsreported running out of food each

month and having to make toughchoices about whether to pay heating,medical and housing bills or buyfood. Medical bills, rising utility rates,high rents, underemployment, jobloss, and transportation costs werecommon themes addressed by participants that compromised theirability to eat well.

“Which is more important,having my house warm or having food in my belly andmy daughter’s belly?”

– consumer

“Well, do I put gas in the caror do I buy a gallon of milk?”

– consumer

“Purchasingfood would notbe as much of aproblem if working wageswere higher andhealth insuranceand dental wereavailable.”

– consumer

How Much of a Problem is Food Safety for

Survey Respondents? (N=624)

Very mucha problem(42.6%)

Not atall aproblem (18.1%)

Somewhata problem(39.1%)

Missing (.2%)

How Much of a Problem is the Price of Food for

Survey Respondents? (N=624)

Very mucha problem(28.0%)

Not atall aproblem (22.8%)

Somewhata problem(48.9%)

Missing (.3%)

0

10

20

30

40

How Often Survey RespondentsLimited the Size of Meals Due to a

Lack of Money (N=618)

Never Rarely Some Most Alwaysof the of thetime time

Food for Thought and Action: Recommendations CFA Reports AvailableFood Matters: Farm Viability and FoodConsumption in Missoula County. Presents studies designed to understand whatit will take to keep agriculture going inMissoula County and to document concernsconsumers have about food.

Grow, Eat, and Know: A Resource Guideto Food and Farming in Missoula County.Helps you locate organizations and businesses – everything from agricultural programs to food assistance agencies to adiner’s guide for local and organic food.

Our Foodshed in Focus: Missoula CountyFood and Agriculture by the Numbers. Uses existing statistical information todescribe patterns in seven major areas of thelocal food system and how these havechanged over time.

For More Information Contact: Neva Hassanein at 243-6271 or Maxine Jacobson at 243-6384. Or, on the web, go to www.umt.edu/cfa to download the reports.

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