UM Dining Budget Spends $1 Million on Montana Ag Products

University of Montana Dining has been trying to buy more locally produced foods, and Dining Director Mark LoParco says they have spent $1.2 million in that effort this year.

“In terms of agricultural products from the state of Montana, we’re at just over $1 million, and that includes about $5,000 of produce that we grow on campus,” LoParco said. “This is the first time we have surpasessed the $1 million mark in one year.”

LoParco says all of the beef at UM Dining is raised in Montana, but there are still some major items on the menu that have to be imported from out of state.

“We are definitely looking for Montana grown pork and chicken,” LoParko said. “We used to be able to buy our chicken out of Great Falls, but that individual moved out of state. Those are two commodities that we would love to be able to buy.”

Montana-grown products ate up about 30 percent of the total UM dining food budget this year, that’s about a seven percent increase over last year.