By Steven Bullcoming Haworth
Truth in Focus | October 6, 2026
Montana grows food. We raise cattle, grow crops, operate family farms and ranches, bake goods in home and commercial kitchens, and produce products that often begin with something grown right here.
The bigger question is how much of that value stays here.
A Montana Department of Agriculture program that opened for applications this week could give farmers, ranchers, food businesses and other agricultural ventures another opportunity to expand processing, marketing and production inside the state.
The Growth Through Agriculture program, or GTA, opened its current pre-application period October 5. Projects can potentially receive as much as $50,000 in grant funding and $100,000 in loan funding, for a combined maximum of $150,000. Applications require a dollar-for-dollar match, and pre-applications are due November 9 at 5 p.m.
The program is not simply intended to subsidize agriculture that already exists. State guidelines say projects should primarily add value to Montana agricultural products and demonstrate the potential to create or retain Montana jobs. Eligible activities can include equipment, construction, advertising, promotion and professional services such as engineering.
What could this look like here?
Think beyond a traditional farm grant.
A rancher might want to process or market more meat locally. A small producer could expand cold storage or packaging. A bakery using Montana products could increase production. A community or tribal enterprise might look at meat processing, bison products or another value-added food business.
Those are not far-fetched examples. Recent GTA awards have supported meat-processing operations, retail and wholesale bakery expansion, produce distribution, poultry, grain handling, value-added beef products and other projects designed to keep more of the value created by Montana agriculture inside Montana.
In rural communities, economic development does not always look like a giant company moving into town and hiring hundreds of people. Sometimes it is one ranch expanding processing. Sometimes it is a person who already sells baked goods becoming a larger business. Sometimes it is a locally produced food that can finally be packaged and sold farther from home.
A few new jobs can matter considerably in a small community.
The biggest obstacle may be getting through the application
Money alone does not make a program accessible.
For a small producer or someone trying to turn an idea into a business, grant applications can become their own barrier. Matching requirements are another obstacle. A project may sound promising until an applicant realizes that securing matching money is part of the equation.
Then there are business plans, financial projections, permits, processing requirements, construction needs and food-safety regulations.
The Montana Department of Agriculture encourages applicants to contact the state’s Food and Agricultural Development Center network, Small Business Development Center network and local economic-development organizations for help with applications, projections, business planning and marketing.
That assistance may be every bit as important as the grant itself.
A program does little good if the people it was designed to help never apply because the process appears impossible.
Schools belong in this conversation too
Eastern Montana also has an opportunity to connect agriculture and economic development with education.
Chief Dull Knife College offers an Agriculture/Animal Science program that includes animal science, soil science, feeds and feeding, farm and ranch management and related coursework.
Young people frequently hear that success means leaving a rural community. Some will leave, and there is nothing wrong with that. Students should be free to pursue opportunities wherever their lives take them.
But students who want to stay should also be able to see possibilities.
Agriculture, business, food production, entrepreneurship and technology can be taught not simply as subjects in a classroom but as tools for creating something at home. Montana has always depended heavily on people figuring out how to make things work with what they have. That spirit remains important in Eastern Montana.
Growth Through Agriculture will not solve every rural economic problem. It will not eliminate the cost of starting a business, fix every processing bottleneck or make paperwork disappear.
But it can provide another tool.
And in communities where residents are already ranching, gardening, baking, selling food and building small businesses, the first step may simply be making sure people know the tool is there.
Deadline: GTA pre-applications are due November 9, 2026, at 5 p.m.