Montana food and agriculture products are world class when it comes to quality, nutrition, and innovation. As companies grow from serving local markets to statewide, regional, national, and international consumers, changes in marketing and distribution strategies are necessary for success. This track will take a deeper look at these changes from the company, purchaser, distributor, and marketer standpoints. The goal of this track is to understand the policies, practices, and entities involved in scaling a food or agriculture business and how they can be strengthened, changed, or reinvented to support the growth of the food and agriculture sector in Montana.
Track Leader
Steph Hystad 
Marketing Officer
Montana Department of Agriculture
Steph is a Marketing Officer for the Montana Department of Agriculture based in Helena. Her main focus is local food systems and domestic marketing, with an emphasis on getting Montana foods on Montana plates. A Vermont native with ties to the Midwest, Steph has worked in Montana for over 10 years with a number of outstanding nonprofits, businesses, and school systems to grow great ideas into measurable, impactful actions.
Track Keynote Speaker
Jamie Ryan Lockman
North American Regional Director
Kamut International, Ltd.
Jamie is responsible for protecting the use of the KAMUT trademark throughout North America and in developing markets including South Korea, China, Dubai, Bahrain, and Egypt. Jamie has degrees in Business Administration and Anthropology from the University of Montana. She and her husband, Clem, farmed in Northeastern Montana for many years. She worked as an archaeologist with private Cultural Resource Management firms in Missoula. In 2015, she traveled as a delegate with Governor Steve Bullock’s Trade Mission to Taiwan and South Korea.
Panelists
Seth Bostick
Executive Chef
Kalispell Regional Medical Center
Seth is a culinary graduate of Western Culinary Institute of Portland, OR (now called Le Cordon Bleu). He finished school in the mid-1990s and embarked on a journey under several highly-trained chefs that led me through Oregon, Colorado, Idaho and now Montana. As an Executive Chef, Seth says he has an opportunity to teach and be taught daily about food, technique and their origins. He believes local use of ingredients, sustainable practices, and organic living is at the heart of what staff do in healthcare and institutions alike. He says, “We can show our guests and fellow staff members that working with quality ingredients and exploiting the natural beauty they offer is the elements to our and their success.”
Angelyn DeYoung
International Trade Manager
Montana Department of Commerce’s Export Montana Program
Since 2014, Angelyn and the Export Montana team have worked with exporters throughout the state of Montana to help them begin exporting or to expand their international markets, as well as successfully securing more than $1 million in federal grants for supporting Montana exporters. Angelyn also has extensive experience with marketing Montana food and agriculture products, having been the Montana Department of Agriculture’s Marketing Officer from 2000-2014.
Joseph Janzen
Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics
Montana State University
Joseph’s research addresses price and trading dynamics in agricultural commodity markets. Some of his recent projects include commodity price shock identification, commodity futures market microstructure and the location of price discovery in world wheat markets, and the influence of international food aid procurement on pulse crop prices. He received his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Davis in 2013. He also holds Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics from the University of Manitoba. Prior to his doctoral studies, he farmed with his father and brother, growing wheat, canola, oats, and soybeans at St. Francois Xavier, Manitoba, Canada.
Randy Lindberg
Quality Foods Distributing
In 2010, Randy and his wife Nancy founded Quality Foods Distributing (QFD), a natural/organic/specialty foods distributor based in Bozeman. Specializing in local and regionally sourced products, categories distributed include produce, meats, dairy, chill, frozen, grocery and bulk/foodservice. From 2006 to 2009, Lindberg was Western Region President and an Executive Officer for United Natural Foods, Inc., the largest wholesaler-distributor to the natural and organic industry in the United States. He had ultimate responsibility for this $1.2 billion region; five distribution centers in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Portland, Seattle and Denver; and 1,700 employee. Prior to joining UNFI, Randy was the President and CEO of Nature’s Best, Brea, California, the largest privately owned wholesaler distributor in the Natural Products industry.