Tim Swift has grown vegetables and forage crops on Swift Brothers’ Farm in St. Ignatius for the last 12 years. He was a long-time organically certified producer, marketing and delivering all his own vegetables. Today he grows vegetables primarily for the Western Montana Growers’ Cooperative, which saves time and money. Tim recently added a small beef herd to his farm mix. The cows will be an integral part of the crop rotations, while providing quality meat and manure for compost.

Tim’s operation is small-scale and at present he is not organically certified. However, he still adheres to organic standards using composting, crop rotations, and green manures to maintain soil and crop fertility, and to reduce pest damage and weed competition. He joined the Montana Sustainable Grower’s Union and his products now carry the “Homegrown” label.

“I am striving to produce healthy, great tasting food,” Tim says, adding, “Where does good flavor come from? It comes from farms using management practices that grow healthy and diverse living soils.”  He believes that freshness is also a key part of good flavor, and that Montana farmers are best suited to supply high quality, fresh produce to Montana consumers. Tim hopes WMGC will help continue to help re-create the connection of local farmers to local consumers. That link along with the challenges and fulfillment of working directly with nature motivates Tim to grow food.

In addition to producing great food, Tim has begun a restoration project on his land, a once-drained wetland. He is working with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to put some swamp land into a Wetland Restoration Project (for more info: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/wrp/). This will greatly benefit native wildlife by enriching their natural habitat, but Tim must also work harder to protect his vegetable crops from the expanding wildlife populations. As Tim says, “It’s a fine balance between food production and wildlife habitat, but a worthwhile goal to work towards.”