Montana Governor Greg Gianforte visits Foth Farms
 | Author:
Matt Nelson
MT43 News Correspondent |
Montana Governor Greg Gianforte visits Foth Farms
Matt Nelson
On Tuesday, October 3rd, Montana Governor Gianforte visited the Foth Farms just South of Toston to see about their potato operations. Mathew, his wife Sarah, and his brother Mitch are the owners, taking over the farm about five years ago from Joe and Bill Skinner, who had had it for 50 years. Mathew started working for the Skinner brothers when he was 14.
On the West side of Highway 287, just South of Toston are seven large Quonset-type of storage buildings where the potatoes are taken after being harvested. There is a lot of activity going on and several huge conveyor belts and large equipment are utilized. Potatoes are first removed from the trucks that bring them in from the field, then they are run through another piece of machinery that extracts most of the dirt off of them and then are transported to the seven storage buildings via another conveyor belt. Inside each of the storage buildings, there is a mountain of a jillion potatoes.
Governor Gianforte was given a tour of the operations by Mathew and Mitch, and then the three of them and the two Skinner brothers walked to the Storage building on the South end, where there was a big sign welcoming him. After photographs were taken, he spoke to this reporter:
“I think it is important for me to get out and ags are our number one industry so I love visiting farm and ranch operations around the state. We are here at the Foth Farms and they are in the middle of the harvest to bring seed potatoes into the field. It was neat to hear their story. We work hard for our farmers and ranchers. It’s really the backbone of the state.
It’s good to get out. I think I can learn a lot more when I am out visiting than I can by sitting behind a desk up in Helena. I am in the middle of my 56-county tour. I think this is county 52 or 53 out of the 56. I do this every year. I meet with county sheriffs, county commissioners, and farm and ranch operations, entrepreneurs. We were down in Dillion yesterday cutting a ribbon on a new program. It’s all good, and then when I go back to Helena it helps me understand so I can do a better job for the people of Montana.”
Thank you Governor Gianforte, your staff, including Ruth and Brook, who were very helpful, and also the Foth families and the Skinner brothers. What a great operation!
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PhotoCredit: Photo Credits: Matt Nelson
Image 1 Caption: Some of the Foth Farms machinery used to process the potatoes
Photo Credits: Matt Nelson
Image 2 Caption: L-R Joe Skinner, Governor Greg Gianforte, Mathew Foth, Mitch Foth, and Bill Skinner
Photo Credits: Matt Nelson
