How Food Shapes Our Local Economies, Our Culture and Our Health?

Buying nutritious food in 2026 can be confusing. Labels, marketing, ingredient changes, unlisted ingredients, preservatives, and additives complicate matters. This doesn't even cover potential chemical applications by growers (or their neighbors) . Are there producers that have your back?

Where do you start? We think having a regular conversation with your suppliers. Being informed has far reaching implications to your health, your pocketbook and your community. Watch our most recent conversation with Mihail Kennedy, Production Manager of BBAR Ranch in SW Montana on these very issues.

"Across the board, dietary advice typically focuses on what and how much to eat, with remarkably little attention paid to how farming practices influence the nutritional quality of food and whether the ‘right foods’ pack the nutrients they once had.” What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health (2022) by David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé.

The book, You Are What You Eat, mentions that our dietary choices directly influence not only our physical health but also our mental and emotional well-being. It argues that the food we consume can have profound effects on our mood, energy levels, and overall quality of life. This perspective emphasizes the importance of being mindful about what we put into our bodies, especially in a marketplace flooded with options that may not be as wholesome as they appear.

As we strive to make healthier choices, it becomes imperative to educate ourselves about nutrition, ingredient sourcing, and the implications of food production practices. The journey toward understanding and affording nutritious food in 2026 is not merely a personal endeavor but a collective challenge that requires awareness, education, and advocacy for better food systems. Note: Mihail Kennedy states during our conversation that he sees himself helping develop new Montana food systems, by way of his work at B-Bar Ranch.

Where to buy BBar throughout Montana? https://bbar.com/providers/

Featured in Edible Bozeman, BBar Ranch and The Bozeman Coop show the way in this story beginning on Page 31.

B Bar Ranch: In their own words. On their ranch.