GREAT FALLS — Farming can be a solitary profession, and Vice President of the Montana Grain Growers Association Klayton Lohr knows the struggles it can bring.
“I've had four bad years of farming with drought in North-Central Montana,” Lohr said.
These struggles are why he decided to focus the 69th annual MGGA convention and trade show around the importance of mental health.
“The stressful part of farming is shifted from, labor, you know, it was intense labor before, and now it's financial stresses,” Lohr said.
This week, Ag producers have gathered in Great Falls to be a part of the grassroots effort to learn more and connect as an ag industry.
“Just getting to meet new people and network and share your struggles and share…your thoughts and ideas, and a lot of lot of good can come from that,” Lohr said.
With around 140 vendors and close to 1,000 attendees, the MGGA event is bringing farmers and sellers together from across the state.
“A lot of business gets done here between the vendors and the farmers,” Lohr said.
The importance of having a community within the state’s farmers cannot be overstated.
“It's actually, it's on the verge of a crisis, actually,” said MGGA President Boyd Heilig on the state’s ag industry.
Heilig says the most important thing to focus on now is a new Farm Bill and approval of the Farm Act.
“[We] didn't want to do the extension, but that's the way it looks that it's going,” Heilig said.
With a new president in January comes the promise of tariffs, but the MGGA says they can learn from the past.
“We know what's coming and I think we can be proactive about it and as a whole,” Heilig said.
The MGGA convention and trade show is the largest of any wheat-growing state in the country, and will be in town through December 5th. More information can be found here.
