Montana Centers to Focus on Local Food & Bio-Energy

The Montana Department of Agriculture has issued a request for proposals to implement legislation designed to help Montana agriculture meet more of the state’s food and renewable energy needs.

House Bill 583, passed by the 2009 Montana Legislature, provides $240,000 per year to fund four Food and Agriculture Development Centers to provide technical assistance needed to increase the capacity of Montana’s farmers, ranchers and other Montana entrepreneurs to produce food and value-added agricultural products, including farm-derived renewable energy.

Under the legislation, applicants must be Certified Regional Development Corporations or nonprofit organizations that serve at least a four-county region and have existed prior to January 1, 2009.

The four Food and Agriculture Development Centers are intended to operate as a statewide network that can offer a broad array of value-added, agriculture-related educational and technical assistance to individuals, cooperatives and businesses seeking to develop agricultural, food and farm-based energy products. Some of these services have been offered through six regional Bio-Product Innovation Centers, which were funded under a federal Workforce In Regional Economic Development grant set to expire in January 2010. The food and agriculture centers will be able to offer additional services including product development and testing, market research, business development assistance and education on regulatory compliance, safe storage and handling.

Montana and other surrounding states produced most of their own food a half century ago, notes Ron de Yong, director of the Montana Department of Agriculture. That capacity was lost following World War II with the advent of cheap global transportation and centralized processing and distribution. Consumers are expressing renewed interest in locally grown food, he said, and the four centers will provide one step toward rebuilding the infrastructure to support local production.

Continuing the energy and bio-fuels development efforts started during the past few years also is important in rural Montana. "We see this as an exciting new avenue for farmers and ranchers to diversify their operations, and for entrepreneurs to add value to Montana commodities," de Yong said.

The deadline for proposals to operate the centers is June 30, 2009. For more information about the process or plans for the centers, contact Perri Walborn at the department at (406) 444-2402 or by e-mail at [email protected].