Page 14 - Agriculture Magazine, March 2016
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Experimenting with new food can be a daunting task, but the Ravalli County MSU Extension Office has materials that can help.
Finding facts about food at the MSU Extension Office By Katelyn Andersen MSU Esctension Agent
When the days start becoming warmer with a little more sunshine, people usually start to plot out their garden plants or imagine trips to the Farmers Markets for local produce. When a consumer looks at the big picture of growing the produce and enjoying the food at the dinner table, there can be a lot of unknown factors. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the number of farmers markets, community-supported agriculture organizations
and farm to school programs is increasing. More consumers are purchasing fruits and vegetables directly from producers or growing their own. This has expanded the variety of produce available to the general public. Often the consumer many not know how to prepare it. In recent years, MSU Extension has developed and offered a series of 22 full color food fact sheets available for purchase to help consumers understand the big picture a little better. Each of the guides describe how to grow, harvest, store, prepare and preserve common Montana grown food products. Originally, the guides focused on Montana