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DECEMBER 2018
M O N TA N A
GRASS ROOTS F E E D I N G T H E F U T U R E T H R O U G H F A R M E R S U N I O N E D U C AT I O N A P U B L I C AT I O N B Y M O N TA N A F A R M E R S U N I O N
BUY LOCAL THIS HOLIDAY SEASON vive another year and provide for their family. But imagine putting It’s no mystery the world of ag- your heart and soul into your work riculture can be challenging and and having great success raising a unforgiving. Especially today with crop or livestock only to be told declining markets and trade wars. that you aren’t going to get paid It’s bad enough that farmers and or are going to get paid far less ranchers are already working on than you expected. In most jobs tight margins just to try and sur- where we work for an employer we would be able to walk away
and find a new job. Agricultural producers don’t have that luxury. Yes, it might be nice to work for yourself, but it doesn’t come without its headaches or lessen the fact that society needs producers. If we force the producer to find other employment besides raising food we shrink our supply chain and make access to food that
much harder. Bigger operations may take on the acres or livestock given up by an outgoing producer, but we end up creating somewhat of a monopoly in agriculture that caters to the big producers. When I began my work with Montana Farmers Union the biggest attraction to me was it focused
PAID
C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E GREAT FALLS, MT PERMIT NO. 93
NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE
BY JUSTIN LOCH M E M B E R S H I P D I R E C TO R
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MFU HIRES LOBBYISTS FOR 2019 LEGISLATIVE SESSION Cindy Palmer and Levi Ostberg will be representing MFU as lobbyists for the 2019 legislative session. Palmer lives in Helena and ranches near Geyser. Palmer has worked in education and has a degree in English from the University of Montana. She has experience working in the legislature as a volunteer. Palmer was a member of the 2019 MFU Policy Committee and participated in the Farmers Union Enterprise Couple’s Leadership program. Levi Ostberg farms cooperatively with his parents Ron and Carol Ostberg on the family farm near Fairfield. He has worked for the Montana Department of Agriculture in the pesticide program and as program specialist with the commercial feed and fertilizer program. Ostberg lobbied for MFU in the previous legislative session and has served as a national delegate, and on the MFU Policy Committee. MFU will provide weekly legislative updates to membership and a wrap up of the session in the May edition of Montana Grassroots.