The state of Montana, typically a stronghold in American agriculture, is bringing some of that local flavor to its schools, and Lake County is no exception.

This year the Ronan, Polson and St. Ignatius school districts are working on incorporating locally grown produce into their school lunches.

“We just want to continue serving healthy meals, improve student nutrition and provide opportunities for nutrition education,” commented Polson lunch director Jim Steiner.“Plus we support local farmers, and what could be better than that?”

This year both Polson and Ronan will be purchasing fresh, local fruits and vegetables from Mission Mountain Food Enterprises Center, a program of Lake County Community Development Corporation. Essentially, they will use the money schools typically spend on distributors, such as Sysco and Food Services of America, to buy preserved local produce.

“The Mission Mountain Food Enterprises Center is a USDA-approved food processing and agriculture development center, so we can take produce from local farmers and preserve them so that they last into the school year,” said Nicki Jimenez, a FoodCorps Service Member at Mission Mountain Food Enterprise Center. “It can be a pretty big barrier that most fruits and vegetables in Montana are ripe during the summer, but we can fix that with storage crops.”

The food directors in Ronan and Polson, Marsha Wartick and Jim Steiner, respectively, are working to change their menus in order to accommodate more locally grown produce. For instance, Wartick recently ordered vegetables that will serve as side dishes and ingredients in other school lunches, and Steiner has ordered ingredients to supply the school baker.

“This year, Polson will add a school baker to the lunch staff. She will be in charge of baking breakfast items from scratch, and will oversee the local fresh fruit and vegetable income,” said Steiner.

Currently in Polson, grades Kindergarten through sixth receive a fresh fruit and vegetable snack three days a week, the goal is to increase that to five days a week.

These same concepts have become a big deal in St. Ignatius as well. Karen Belluomini, the St. Ignatius food director, has spearheaded the movement in her school district.

“Karen always attends meetings with the Mission Mountain Food Enterprise Center, and she always wants to know what she can do within her district to bring that food to the table,” said Jimenez.

St. Ignatius faced several challenges last year in trying to create a financially sound program that included local produce, as local food can often cost up to one-third more than food from other distributors. However, Belluomini managed to buy enough fresh produce last year to supply the school for October, and hopes to do so again this coming year.

“I have to get my approval from my superintendent, but I really hope he’ll let me do October again,” commented Belluomini. “The price prohibits it a little but I’d love to find a way to continue to use the fresh produce. It’s just marvelous. It’s great food and the kids love knowing that it was grown here, instead of coming to us from a box it has sat in for a month.

All three of the school districts have had to rework their budgets slightly to include local produce, but the Western Montana Grower organization, the company that supplies produce to Mission Mountain Food Enterprise Center for processing, is working on lowering the price for school districts. Until then, food service directors throughout the Mission Valley will continue to innovate their programs in order to include local food.