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Amidst the flood of controversies between environmentalists and agriculturalists, one Montana FFA Chapter is uniting factions and shedding a brilliant light on both Montana Agriculture and Montana Youth.
Amber Brown, a high school senior at Helena Capital and a member of Electric City FFA Chapter says, “Many people don’t know where their food comes from and Ag is such a big part of everyone’s lives it is important to know about crops and agriculture.” While many people might just nod and acknowledge this problem, Brown took stock of her resources and then took action.
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Brown’s FFA Advisor and Aunt, Jodi Koterba of Great Falls got the idea for the “InFARMation” campaign while on a trip to Washington. Washington State University had placed signs in fields to identify the different crops growing in the area. Between Brown and Koterba, the idea to educate the public about agriculture by labeling crops along highways began to take shape and grow in to truly a community project.
Gayle Fisher, the Executive Director of Central Montana Tourism, supported the idea for a crop labeling project and even applied on their behalf for a Digital Marketing Grant from the Montana Office of Tourism. The grant is being used to produce an app that will provide further information about crops as people drive by and notice the signs.
Brown also pulled her Mother Linda’s employer, Tempest Technologies in to the project. Brown is herself currently interning at the website design and technology firm in Helena. Tempest Technologies have graciously donated time and resources to both develop a website for the InFARMation campaign as well as design the supporting app. The website can be found by going to www.centralmontana.com/infarmation .
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After months and months of work and coordination, the Electric City FFA Chapter and Central Montana Tourism are proud to begin digging post holes today, July 22, 2015. The first sign was raised at 10am Mountain time on highway 200 between mile markers 84 and 85. The sign located on J.C. Kantorowicz’s property labels his crop of winter wheat.
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The Electric City FFA Chapter and a team of volunteers will spend the rest of the day attempting to post 41 signs in a loop between Great Falls, Fort Benton, Stanford and circling back to Great Falls along. Other crops that will be identified include alfalfa, barley, canola, chick peas, flax, lentils, native grass (CRP), oats, peas, safflower, spring wheat, winter wheat and wild rye. Crops that are organic will include an extra label for this designation.
While the community is proud of the achievement that today brings, their vision spans beyond Cascade, Choteau and Judith Basin Counties. Brown says that her vision is “to get the kinks worked out and enable FFA chapters across the state to engage in the project.”
Brown and Koterba would like to thank all of the supporters of the project including Wilbur-Ellis and Montana Agricultural Business Association who donated the money to have the signs produced.
For additional information on this project or to learn how to get involved, please contact Jodi Koterba at jodi_koterba@gfps.k12.mt.us.
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