(The following article by Chelsi Moy was posted on the Great Falls Tribune website on June 27.)
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — In a rare move, officials with BNSF Railway are sponsoring three open forums across northcentral Montana this week as a way to open communication with the state’s agricultural producers.
This is the first time BNSF has sponsored such an event. The purpose is to discuss BNSF’s rural transportation and address any concerns of agricultural producers, BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said.
He added that Montana is an “important market” to BNSF and that these education forums in Wolf Point, Havre and Great Falls are to show BNSF’s commitment to producers in this region.
BNSF’s vice president of agricultural products, Kevin Kaufman, and other BNSF officials also will discuss the harvest outlook for 2006, what drives Montana’s wheat to market, profit volume and future improvements to the rail system, Melonas said.
A town hall meeting is scheduled for today in Wolf Point at the Sherman Inn, 200 E. Main St.
Officials will play host to a meeting Wednesday in Havre at the Duck Inn, 1300 1st St., and Great Falls on Thursday at the Holiday Inn, 400 10th Ave. S.
Each meeting starts at 9 a.m. and is expected to last until noon.
Toward the end of each session, agricultural producers will have an opportunity to ask questions.
The executive vice president of the Montana Grain Growers Association, Richard Owen, imagines producers will want to discuss rail rates.
“It is always the top of our minds,” he said.
Melonas said there is limited capacity at each venue.
There’s space for 70 people in Wolf Point and 100 people in Havre and Great Falls, Melonas said.