Economic Gardening

Economic Gardening provides free consulting advice to businesses that show potential for expansion. The idea is to grow jobs and revenue, which helps not just the state but also communities.

Wants to Create Destination Image Campaign

"The relocation of manufacturing plants offshore and the general decline of economic health in parts of the country have reduced the effectiveness of traditional economic ‘hunting.’ " For these reasons, economic gardening in its purest form has been adopted in smaller, more rural and harder-hit areas of the country.

Before the county makes any decisions, it wants to ensure the program is working. It partnered with Northwestern Energy to analyze businesses that have completed the program.

"The market research
provided to us through the Economic Gardening Pilot resulted helped us identify and focus our limited
resources on the best possible markets and resulted in over $100,000 in sales which immediately
enabled new hires." Michael Fitzgerald -co-founder and CEO of Submittable

Round two of Butte-Silver Bow’s winning collaboration with the national Center for Economic Gardening is officially under way.

Instead of trying to lure big companies with tax incentives, more and more places are trying to increase the number of local businesses to boost their economies.

If you, or someone you know is interested in becoming a certified Economic Gardening specialist, send them online to apply!

Can an economic development strategy that is focused on fostering small businesses and a culture of local entrepreneurship truly grow a local economy?