HomeMy WebLinkAbout6-05-2020 B. Prager - Memo re. Bozeman Growth Policy 2020 - agriculture and food systemsPublic Comment
June 5, 2020
To: Chris Saunders [csaunders@bozeman.net] and Tom Rogers [trogers@bozeman.net]
From: Barbara Moore Prager
Re: Inclusion of urban agriculture in the new Bozeman Community Plan
Dear Mr. Saunders and Mr. Rogers:
Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts on the importance of urban agriculture and
affordable, accessible food in the time of Covid-19. My husband and I own a condominium at 424 East
Main Street and we are increasingly concerned about preserving and expanding opportunities for
healthy living and quality of life in Bozeman.
I hold a master’s degree and doctorate in nutrition from Columbia University. I have spent my
professional career as both a researcher and educator concerned with explaining the fundamental
connection between healthy eating and both mental and physical health. It is of great concern that the
least healthy foods (high in fat, salt and sugar) are the most readily available and affordable whereas
nutritionally dense fresh fruits and vegetables and lean sources of protein are the least convenient and
most costly. This fact is not regarded as the public health crisis that it is. The Bozeman Community Plan
can acknowledge this crisis (laid bare by the Covid-19 pandemic) and be crafted to mitigate it.
As a Board member of Farm to School of Park County (F2SPC), I am involved in an innovative public-
private partnership in which F2SPC and the Livingston school district cooperate to feed children who
used to consume breakfast and lunch at school. In mid-March, when schools closed In Livingston, school
food service personnel continued procuring foods and preparing meals as they had. But now they have
to package the meals and load them onto school buses to be delivered to 18 different drop points for
hungry children (who appear on their bikes or with their parents in a vehicle). In mid-March they were
feeding 125 students two meals per weekday, but are now feeding 500 students. That is approximately
5000 meals per week!
Keeping food service personnel safe and meeting the challenges of Covid-19 has made all of us involved
in this feeding effort keenly aware of the shortcomings of our local food system. F2SPC has helped to
forge innovative school-restaurant partnerships with more than half a dozen restaurants in Livingston to
help with meal preparation and packaging. For these restaurants, it has helped keep them afloat when
their businesses were shuttered except for takeout. For the school food service personnel procuring,
preparing, packaging and delivering 1000 meals each weekday, it has provided relief and it is easier for
them to maintain social distancing and safety in a relatively small kitchen space.
The above story describes an innovative public-private partnership. It is successful from many
perspectives, but the fact is that the nutritional quality of the food served to these children needs
improvement. We need to incorporate more fruits and vegetables and lean sources of protein into all
meals and snacks served to children. We need more innovative partnerships between our schools,
hospital and those restaurants and local businesses committed to using Montana vendors and producers
to strengthen our local food system. We must find a way to incentivize local food producers to make
more wholesome foods available at prices we can afford.
What is needed is a bold plan designed to ensure healthy eating for all, but especially for growing
children. Here are a few ideas for your consideration as Bozeman grows:
(1) Plan for every public school in Bozeman to have a garden to be used as a classroom to teach
children: where their food comes from; the nutritional quality of foods; the importance of
healthy soil, clean air and water to provide valuable nutrients to the plants children eat; how the
nutrients in food help kids grow and stay healthy and how wonderful it is to harvest, prepare
and taste healthy foods in the classroom and cafeteria.
(2) Support the establishment of commercial agricultural operations in the community with the
understanding that school food service operations (and the hospital and participating
restaurants and businesses) will utilize at least a portion of all crop yields to prepare healthy
foods for all children, regardless of family income.
(3) Foster innovative public-private partnerships to build steady, reliable year ‘round markets
(4) Foster the development of locally-produced nutritious food products that are appropriate and
affordable for meals and snacks for growing children and their families.
It may be of interest that as recently as 2013 Montana ranked in the top 10 states on the “locavore
index” but by 2019, Montana has now slipped to 28th place. From my perspective, Montana’s food
system is on a ventilator, struggling to survive. Producers and consumers alike are struggling and low
income children, in particular, are paying the price of poor dietary quality. But keep in mind that as
these children grow and develop, they will experience higher rates of diet-related diseases such as
obesity, fatty liver disease, dental caries and diabetes, so the price paid in higher healthcare costs will be
borne by us all.
You are in a unique position to make a difference. Bozeman can reclaim its agricultural heritage as it
grows. There are remarkable innovations available such as vertical farms, aquaponic and hydroponic
systems and geothermal greenhouses built to extend the growing season. These innovations allow
greater productivity in limited growing spaces despite adverse or unreliable growing conditions in our
state. Careful planning and strategic incentives can make this happen.
Please increase access to healthy local food in our community by adding language to our Community
Plan that encourages urban agriculture (in all its forms) within the City of Bozeman. I thank you for the
opportunity to share my thoughts.
Sincerely,
Barbara Moore Prager, PhD