Montana Agriculture Development Council Announces Awards – Next Application Deadline is April 30, 2004

The Montana Agriculture Development Council has awarded
more
than $265,000 to nine projects for agricultural development in Montana,
according to council Chair Earl Bricker.

Projects approved at a recent council meeting in Great Falls included
both
marketing and business development proposals. The Agriculture
Development
Council oversees the Montana Growth Through Agriculture program, which
is
the source of funding that the council uses to make investments in
appropriate projects. Investments are offered in three forms:
investments
without repayment, investments with deferred repayment and seed capital
loans.

"The Growth Through Agriculture program provides investments to enhance
the
marketing of innovative Montana agricultural products and services,"
says
Ralph Peck, director of the Montana Department of Agriculture and a
member
of the Montana Agriculture Development Council. "The program also helps
Montana entrepreneurs develop new products and agri-business ideas to
enhance our state’s agricultural industry."

At the meeting, investment funds were awarded to:

* The Orchard at Flathead Lake, LLP – Expansion of Organic Cherry
Processing
and Marketing, Kalispell;

* Kimm Seed Potatoes – Integrated Manure Feasibility and
Commercialization,
Manhattan;

* Big Sky Quality Wool LLC – Expansion of Worsted Wool Mill and
Marketing,
Broadus;

* Mountain Lake Fisheries – development of marketing plan and marketing
materials for whitefish caviar, Columbia Falls;

* Pintlar Peaks Seasoning and Dressing – consultant services and
marketing
material development, Butte;

* Montana Stock Growers Association – cooperative beef promotion across
Montana, Helena

* Accurate Freeze Branding LLC. – consultant services and marketing
material
development for the ACCUFreeze System, Anaconda;

* Wiota, LLC – business development plan for financing expansion of
Wiota
hay handling equipment, Nashua; and

* Hillside Farms Dairy – feasibility and expansion of Hillside Dairy
Farms,
Charlo.

The next deadline for project applications to the Montana Growth Through
Agriculture program is April 30, 2004. The council will make award
decisions
for the next round of project applications at its meeting in early June.

Montana agricultural producers and industry representatives serve on the
Agriculture Development Council. Members are: Earl Bricker of Moore,
chair;
Cathy Cottom of Dillon, vice chair; John Franklin of Sidney; Robert
Hanson
of White Sulphur Springs; Larry Barber of Coffee Creek; Ralph Peck,
director
of the Montana Department of Agriculture; and Mark Simonich, director
of the
Montana Department of Commerce.

For more information and application materials, contact Matt McKamey,
Growth
Through Agriculture program manager at the Montana Department of
Agriculture, at (406) 444-2402 or by e-mail at [email protected].