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Education and Agricultural Showcase held in Havre

This past week, I was honored to help bring together educators, the Montana Board of Regents, legislators and agricultural industry leaders for the first Montana Education and Agriculture Showcase. The event couldn’t have happened without planning and assistance from Montana State University-Northern Chancellor Greg Kegel, Sen. Mike Lang, Sen. Shannon O’Brien, Pad McCracken and the great work of Jodi Kueffler, executive secretary for the chancellor.

All said and done, 128 people were able to eat a delicious meal entirely sourced and made in Montana, which included pasta donated by Pasta Montana from Great Falls. The festivities were held in the new diesel tech building on campus. A sincere thank you and great appreciation goes to the Montana Farmers Union, who sponsored the meal and MSU-N’s food services with Becky Toth in the lead.

A number of educational leaders attended the event to share their expertise, including Darron Boss with the Northern Ag Research Center, Krista Arntzen from Winifred, who sets up ag education lessens for homeschool families, and Rilie Mortenson with Bear Paw Development Corp., who works with agricultural issues and programs. In addition, ag industry folks attended the event and showcased their Montana products.

Jim O’Hara from Fort Benton came to talk about the bio oils and grease products he has worked on with MSU-N, Bob Quinn from Big Sandy shared examples of the products he has been raising and producing on his farm. INDHemp of Fort Benton, who had previously given tours of their hemp plant for legislators earlier in the day, had a few products to display. Stricks Ag from Chester, who had also provided tours for legislators, were in attendance for the showcase with food products produced from pulse crops. Montana Farm Bureau had representatives at the gathering to tell their story of promoting agriculture. This function took on a life of its own and became the “Montana Education and Agriculture Showcase.”

The following day, the Senate Education Interim Committee that I am a member of, toured the Northern Agricultural Research Center and held our committee meeting at their facility. I also very much enjoyed the bonus tour through Fort Assiniboine.

There were a number of reasons I felt it was important to get all these folks together in Havre for this showcase. For myself, I represent Senate District 14 and wanted to highlight some of what we have in north-central Montana, including MSU-N, the Northern Ag Research Center, and many eatable products being raised on the Hi-Line. With the help of all these local individuals, we were able to showcase ag contributions from north-central Montana. I believe the legislators, along with the Board of Regents and others, saw and felt that we have an incredible community. I believe it was a great experience for all.

I feel it is my job to not only promote agriculture and education in my district, but also to be an advocate for local businesses. As always, stay safe.

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Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, can be emailed at [email protected].

 

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