There are more cows than people living in Montana. With that in mind, Montana State University researchers looking at what it will take to increase the amount of locally sourced beef in school cafeterias.

Researchers are looking at beef-to-school models such as the one in Kalispell Public Schools.

The team of researchers was awarded a three-year, $220,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Western Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program to help beef producers and meat processors increase the use of local beef in schools and communities.

Carmen Byker Shanks, assistant professor of the MSU Department of Health and Human Development, leads the research team.

“Beef-to-school efforts can increase the sustainability and viability of local and regional food systems,” Shanks said in a press release. “Beef-to-school programs have the potential to reduce the need for transportation, packaging and other inputs; increase access to local food; provide farmers an additional market for their beef; enhance community food literacy and connections to local agriculture; keep money circulating in local economies; and possibly utilize cattle that are grass-fed.”

A key partner is the Montana Beef to School Coalition. While buying local fruits and vegetables has gained momentum in many schools around the state, there are several hurdles to overcome when it comes to sourcing local beef in schools.

Beef availability, product consistency, price point, processing plant size and inspection level and delivery methods are all challenges to making beef-to-school programs economically viable and sustainable, according to Lower Valley Processing co-owner Jeremy Plummer and Kalispell Public Schools Food Service Director Jenny Montague, both coalition members.

Plummer and Montague have been working on these issues since the school district started purchasing beef from Lower Valley Processing in 2012.

“Jenny came to me and asked ‘how can we do this?’” Plummer said.

The district started with hamburgers once a week and has expanded to breakfast sausage and Polish sausage.

“We’re a model beef-to-school relationship that’s still progressing,” Plummer said.

Since Montague came on the job in 2011, she has paved the way to procuring local food. In 2012, she started purchasing local meat within constraints of a school budget. Kalispell Public Schools has an enrollment of about 5,803 students. The district’s lunch program also serves Trinity Lutheran and Olney-Bissell schools.

While Kalispell Public Schools may be the largest district to purchase local meat in the valley, Somers-Lakeside — enrollment 542 — was probably the first. Somers-Lakeside School District Food Service Director Robin Vogler began purchasing local meat after a 2006 beef recall by the district’s former supplier. The beef recall had affected several other school districts.

Like Vogler, Montague was looking to reduce food-safety risks while supporting the community. This school year, $40,000 of Kalispell Public Schools’ food budget went back into Montana’s economy.

Even though purchasing local meat is slightly more expensive than from a commercial supplier, a small cost savings was realized for Kalispell Public Schools after the switch.

“For us it’s not only a financial savings, but a better decision for food safety,” Montague said. “We were concerned with outbreaks of E. coli within giant processing facilities. I really believe that Montana beef is a superior product.”

Montague’s ability to inspect farms and processing plants, which are now just a drive away, was also a big draw to buy local.

“I like knowing the source of the products that we’re serving students. I’m able to have knowledge of the ranches. I’m able to inspect the facility where the beef is processed and ask questions,” Montague said. “That is absolutely not an option when sourced nationally.”

The meat Plummer processes comes from cattle raised in Northwest Montana, unlike multinational distributors.

“If you’re buying from plants that kill like 5,000 cattle a day, it may be cheaper but they’re buying cattle from Canada, Mexico, all over the United States, and it goes into one pile and is taken and frozen,” Plummer said. “Someone buys it, grinds it and distributes it to another warehouse that schools order from.”

Although the meat Plummer sells to area schools represents less than 1 percent of Lower Valley Processing’s business, it opens a new market. Plummer said some weeks he sells about 500 pounds of meat to schools. Even when school is out, he still sells to schools for the free summer lunch program.

“Diversity makes a small business like this grow,” he explained. “The community relationship is how we benefit from it. Most of the schools that we sell our beef to, we bring the kids down here on field trips.”

The strategy Kalispell Public Schools is currently using will be one beef-to-school model researchers look at. Researchers will conduct case studies to identify benefits, challenges, best practices and gaps. The team will also examine how local beef is used in schools and evaluate student acceptance and preference of local versus non-local beef.

“What works; what doesn’t; how and if we can do it,” Plummer said.

Researchers will use information to evaluate the larger Montana beef-to-school market by developing evaluation tools, analyzing characteristics of beef-to-school supply chain issues and assessing capacity needs for slaughter, processing and storage facilities. The last year of the grant will be spent doing training and outreach.

While Kalispell schools are off to a good start, there were hurdles they had to overcome, from budget, supply, demand and access to a consistent quality and equipment. Lower Valley Processing had to purchase a machine to make beef patties and had some funding from a USDA grant to purchase a larger refrigerated truck to deliver the meat.

“As schools and ranchers in Montana are beginning to work together to bring local beef into schools, the results have been mixed, Shanks said. “Some procurement models seem successful for all parties involved, while others have faced significant barriers in making beef to school programs viable. These evaluation results will help create solutions to overcoming barriers to optimizing beef to school efforts.”

Kalispell ranchers Myron Mast and Mark Passmore occasionally sell cattle to Lower Valley Processing, but they haven’t yet altered production for the beef-to-school initiative.

Some of the savings for local producers may be realized from reduced mileage to transport cattle, according to Mast and Passmore, but beef is a commodity. Commodity prices rise and fall based on supply and demand. This can be tricky for medium- to small-sized producers and processors working with school districts with budget restrictions.

“Selling meat is a volume thing,” Plummer said. “The price of cattle is like any other commodity — up and down, up and down. Well, when Jenny comes to me [asking] ‘how much do burgers cost this year’ and I give her a price point, if I’m buying cows for a certain amount, next week [the cost may] go up 10 cents,” Plummer said.

When prices go up food services directors get creative in stretching those dollars. Vogler said she has combined lentils into hamburgers to extend the amount of beef. She said the district has also cut back in the amount of beef purchased.

“With ground beef prices on the rise it has been more difficult to purchase bulk beef. We have cut back on the amount of beef we purchase. I’d love to find a way to be able to afford it,” Vogler said noting that, at the same time, they want ranchers to make a fair price.

Vogler has served on various panels about sourcing local foods including one with Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.

“I would like to see commodity dollars that go to school districts allow us to buy local,” Vogler said.

Passmore added that hamburger is just a portion of a cow and noted there also has to be a market for other cuts, but he thinks beef-to-school initiatives are possible with more research; so does Plummer.

“Definitely here it’s possible in Kalispell. I’ve got a lot of producers. I got a couple of good processing plants and enough schools to make it worth our while. I see it being problematic in rural towns — finding the cattle, finding the processors, having the proper inspections,” Plummer said.

“It’s good to see funding become available to research this so other communities have what the Flathead Valley has and to be able to diversify their business. That’s what small businesses thrive on,” Plummer said.

For more information about the beef to school initiative visit farmtocafeteria.ncat.org/beef-to-school.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.