Governor announces Food and Agricultural Development Center funding

From the Office of the Governor

Gov. Steve Bullock today announced that the Agriculture Development Council has awarded funding to eight organizations across Montana enabling them to serve as Food and Agriculture Development Centers.

“Our Food and Agriculture Development Centers are vitally important to the food and ag industries of Montana,” Bullock said. “I’m pleased that as a result of our work together during the legislative session we now have twice as many centers spread across a diverse area of our state, and I’m excited to see the work they do to foster Montana’s strong tradition of agriculture.”

  From Wolf Point to Ronan, eight total centers are now across the state. The centers support economic development by ensuring that more of the state’s food, agricultural and energy dollars circulate in Montana.

Bullock signed during the 2019 legislative session House Bill 52, one of his priority pieces of legislation which reauthorized a set of tools that support business growth and entrepreneurship. HB 52 included increased available funding for the FADC network and removed the set number of centers allowed under the law. As a result, the number of centers has grown from four to eight.

Those organizations that have received funding and are now a part of the FADC network are:

• Bear Paw Development Corporation, Havre;

• Beartooth Resource Conservation and Development Area, Inc., Joliet;

• Great Falls Development Authority, Inc., Great Falls;

• Great Northern Development Corporation, Wolf Point;

• Headwaters Resource Conservation and Development Area, Inc., Butte;

• Lake County Community Development Corporation, Ronan;

• Prospera Business Network, Bozeman, and

• Ravalli County Economic Development Authority, Hamilton.

The Montana FADC Network was created in 2009 and helps Montanans innovate and grow businesses that produce and commercialize food, agricultural and renewable energy products and processes, creating wealth and jobs in our communities and on our farms and ranches. For more information on the FADC network, visit our website at https://agr.mt.gov/FADC/.