Value-added Agriculture Grants awarded-LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

The Board of Directors of Lake County Community Development Corp. (LCCDC) were pleased to learn that three agri-businesses being assisted
through the Cooperative Development Center located at the organization’s Mission Mountain Market agricultural and food business incubator in
Ronan received value-added agriculture development grants (VADG) worth a total of $469,867.00 from USDA Rural Development.

Montana Rural
Development State Director, Tim Ryan, in presenting the awards to the grant recipients in a ceremony in Kalispell on Friday, October 25, stated
“Adding value to our agriculture products will bring new economic opportunities to rural areas, which is an important part of creating new jobs”. The
VADG program was very competitive this year with USDA Rural Development receiving 714 applications. Of the eight Montana applications, five
were selected for funding – three of which came to western Montana! In last year’s funding, only one Montana application was funded – to Montana
Natural Beef, another value-added agricultural enterprise being incubated at the Mission Mountain Market center. This year’s grant recipients are as
follows:

Amazing Grains Cooperative, Ronan, MT – $323,837: funds will be used for working capital to expand processing capacity and markets for a
value-added, gluten-free, Indian ricegrass product from seed grown by member producers located throughout the region and state.

Flathead Native Agricultural Cooperative, Ronan, MT – $100,000: Funds will be used for working capital to develop Indian branded, value-added beef
products.

Montana Eco Fuels, Thompson Falls, MT – $46,030: Funds will be used to assess the feasibility and develop a business plan for adding value to
Montana grown oil seed crops by processing them into industrial grade vegetable oil and biodiesel additives.

All recipients listed above are either housed in the incubator or receiving business development assistance through LCCDC staff, Cooperative
Development Specialist Jan Tusick and/or Sander’s County Economic and Community Development Specialist Steve Simonson. In a statement
delivered by Executive Director Billie Lee at the awards ceremony, the LCCDC board stated that “these companies, all representing a larger group of
producers working together to find alternative markets for their agricultural production, exemplify the very reason we moved to establish this unique
food business incubator in western Montana.

If we are able to assist such groups develop new products, along with their business skills;
explore, test and prove their viability in new niche markets; ramp up their production through access to processing equipment and shared office space
and ultimately help them develop capital to invest in full-scale processing plants, then we will have contributed to developing a new economic future for
the family farms here in Lake County and elsewhere in Montana. We envision a future that: generates a greater return to the farm, creates
private-sector jobs in a variety of agricultural processing and manufacturing settings, and contributes safe, environmentally sensitive, high-quality
products to consumers here and abroad.”

Other producer groups currently receiving assistance in product and business development include the
Flathead Cherry Cooperative; local apple and vegetable growers; Montana Natural Beef, LLC; Big Sky Tea Company and a variety of specialty food
entrepreneurs. For more information on the incubator, call the Mission Mountain Market at 676-0676.

For Information: Billie Lee, Executive Director 676-5901