USDA gives $291,000 to co-op center at MSU-Northern

HAVRE — The Montana Cooperative Development Center at MSU-Northern in Havre was awarded more than $291,000 Tuesday to help boost cooperative ventures across rural Montana.

By JENNIFER PEREZ
Tribune Hi-Line Bureau

The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded the two-year Rural Development grant to the center to provide cooperative development, technical assistance, education and applied research across Montana. It was one of 19 grants awarded across the United States.

"This grant really funds on-the-ground technical assistance that’s needed to take our groups from conception to completion," said Ty Duncan, executive director of the center, which has helped launch a dozen co-ops since it was created in 1999.

Among their projects are Fort Belknap Artisans Cooperative, Rocky Boy’s Chippewa Cree Native Crafts Cooperative, Amazing Grains, Sweet Grass Lamb Cooperative, Montana Sweet Grass Natural Beef Cooperative and the Montana Value-added Cooperative.

The center’s resources are important for working Montanans, Duncan said.

"Many of the people we work with are busy making a living on the farms and rancher and other businesses," Duncan said. "They need the coordination, partnering and assistance that’s required to take the proper steps to have a project be a success."

On hand to present the national award, on the first day of National Cooperative Month, was Tim Ryan, state rural development director. He stressed how far-reaching co-ops are throughout Montana.

More than 300 cooperatives exist in the state, employing more than 7,400 Montanans in everything from hardware stores and electric companies to grocery stories and Native American artisans’ co-ops.

"We can provide in communities anything from fire hydrants to fiber optics," said Ryan, of Great Falls, who also read prepared comments from Montana’s three congressmen.

The center is helping MSU-Northern senior Lindy Davis of Havre develop a business plan to start up a day-care center for Triangle Telephone and Hill County Electric Co-op in Havre.

Davis, who’s working on the plan for a senior project, said she was encouraged to develop a day-care business by a mother who works at the Triangle co-op.

MSU-Northern Chancellor Alex Capdeville said the center’s goal is to assist the region with rural development across the state.

"Cooperative development is especially important in the heartland," he said.

Mark Lindberg, with Governor Martz’s Office of Economic Opportunity, said teamwork is key to developing economies in rural communities.

"We need to do things individually, but at the end of it we all we need to pull it together and see what we have as a team," he said.

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