2025 Local Food Guide Sources

Abundant Montana’s annual Local Food Guide is a free, full color, magazine-style publication highlighting Montana’s expansive local food offerings. It includes farms, ranches, restaurants, retailers, farmers markets, breweries, wineries, cideries, distilleries, and more. Plus, check out the annual Farmers Market Guide, Grow & Tell stories highlighting Montana food businesses, seasonal recipes, and the Seasonality Guide!

This is the ultimate guide to eating locally in Montana.

You can read the 2025 Local Food Guide online here. And you can find a print copy near you using this map.

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2025 Local Food Guide Sources:

1. PG 1 | Why Local Food Matters, Inside Front Cover
   • Farmers selling locally keep 60 cents or more of every dollar vs. only 14 to 17 cents if selling out of state.
     • https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Why%20Local%20Food%20Matters.pdf
2. PG 15 | 33×33 For Montana; Coming Together to Feed Ourselves
   • Only 3% of the food Montanans eat is grown or raised in-state. But 50 years ago, it was 70%
     • https://growmt.org/economic-value-and-impact-of-local-food-in-montana/
3. PG 19 | Food As Medicine Begins in the Fields
   • In 2021, there were over 17,000 certified organic farms in the United States, many of which were transitioning for health and economic reasons.
     • USDA. (2025, January 23). Organic Agriculture. Organic Agriculture | Economic Research Service. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/natural-resources-environment/organic-agriculture
4. PG 19 | Food As Medicine Begins in the Fields
   • According to the CDC, 6 in 10 Americans suffer from at least one chronic illness…
     • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). About Chronic Diseases. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved May 5, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/chronic-disease/about/index.html
5. PG 19 | Food As Medicine Begins in the Fields
   • … 78% of which can be prevented or reversed with lifestyle changes, including diet.
     • Ford, Earl S., et al. “Healthy living is the best revenge: findings from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition-Potsdam study.” Archives of internal medicine 169.15 (2009): 1355-1362.
6. PG 19 | Food As Medicine Begins in the Fields
   • However, over time, these practices have resulted in an increase in chemical use and a decline in the nutritional quality of crops across the United States, making our food less healthy than it was just 50 years ago.
     • Rodale Institute. (2018, October 17). Nutrient Density. Rodale Institute. https://rodaleinstitute.org/why-organic/issues-and-priorities/nutrient-density/
7. PG 19 | Food As Medicine Begins in the Fields
   • While crop yields have never been higher…
     • Author: Eric Njuki Resource and Rural Economics Division Economic Research Service. (2020, March 5). A look at agricultural productivity growth in the United States, 1948-2017. USDA. https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/blog/look-agricultural-productivity-growth-united-states-1948-2017
8. PG 19 | Food As Medicine Begins in the Fields
   • …we and the land are getting sicker.
     • Tikkanen, R., & Abrams, M. K. (2020, January 30). U.S. health care from a global perspective, 2019: Higher spending, worse outcomes?. U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, 2019 | Commonwealth Fund. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2019
9. PG 19 | Food As Medicine Begins in the Fields
   • …we and the land are getting sicker.
     • Eskenazi, B., Gunier, R. B., Rauch, S., Kogut, K., Perito, E. R., Mendez, X., … & Mora, A. M. (2023). Association of lifetime exposure to glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) with liver inflammation and metabolic syndrome at young adulthood: findings from the CHAMACOS study. Environmental Health Perspectives, 131(3), 037001.
10. PG 23 | The Other Half: What Happens to the Rest of the Animal and How Montana Ranchers are Reclaiming its Value
    • However, over the last 40 years, as large-scale processing became normalized, efficiency and cost-cutting measures have taken precedence over whole animal utilization.
      • Public Broadcasting Service. Industrial Meat | Modern Meat | Frontline. PBS. Retrieved May 5, 2025. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/industrial/consolidation.html
11. PG 24 | Full Circle: Trust Land Farm Grows With Community
    • In Montana alone, 1.6 million acres of farmland were lost between 2012 and 2017.
      • Nigh, V. (2019, April 19). The 2017 Census of Agriculture, Our First Take. American Farm Bureau Federation. https://www.fb.org/market-intel/the-2017-census-of-agriculture-our-first-take#:~:text=Moving%20into%20state%2Dby%2Dstate,and%20Massachusetts%20(%2D6%20percent)
12. PG 27 | Sustainable Ranching Initiative: WWF is partnering with the ranching communities in the Northern Great Plains to protect grasslands
    • Every year, millions of acres of grassland are being plowed up and converted to row crop agriculture or lost to woody plant encroachment, with the majority occurring across the NGP.
      • World Wildlife Fund. (2024, September 26). 2024 Plowprint Report . World Wildlife Fund. https://www.worldwildlife.org/publications/2024-plowprint-report
13. PG 28 | Sustainable Ranching Initiative: WWF is partnering with the ranching communities in the Northern Great Plains to protect grasslands
    • As they’ve modified their practices to regenerative, they’ve gained community, seen increases in the number of wildlife on their property, improved the quality of grass and cattle they’re raising, and have even seen changes in mental health and lifestyle.
      • Panda Hub by World Wildlife Fund. (2025, February 3). Bruski Family Ranch – Ekalaka, Montana . World Wildlife Fund. https://www.worldwildlife.org/videos/bruski-family-ranch-ekalaka-montana
14. PG 34 | Fun Fact
    • The Flathead Lake area typically yields 3-4 MILLION POUNDS of sweet cherries each year.
      • FLCG Convention Handout: Montana’s Flathead Lake Orchard Region . Flathead Lake Cherry Growers Inc. (n.d.). https://montanacherries.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/FLCG-ConventionHandOut-1color.pdf
15. PG 40 | Fun Fact
    • 61.9% of Montana’s land is used for farming
      • Montana Agricultural Statistics 2024. United States Department of Agriculture. (n.d.). https://data.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Montana/Publications/Annual_Statistical_Bulletin/2024/Montana-Annual-Bulletin-2024.pdf
16. PG 52 | Fun Fact
    • As of January 1, 2025, Montana had 2,160,000 head of cattle
      • 2024 State Agriculture Overview. USDA/NASS 2024 State Agriculture Overview for Montana. (n.d.). https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/Ag_Overview/stateOverview.php?state=montana
17. PG 55 | Fun Fact
    • In 2024, Montana produced 1.37 million pounds of wool
      • Sheep, Lamb, and Goat Inventory January 1, 2024. National Agricultural Statistics Service | USDA. (2024, January 31). https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Montana/Publications/News_Releases/2024/MT-Sheep-and-Goat-Inventory-01312024.pdf