Food & Ag Development Center

The Glendive Food & Ag Development Center is operated by Community GATE (Giving Assistance Towards Employment) and emphasizes development and processing of local food products. Community GATE is working on a shared-use commercial kitchen that can assist local entrepreneurs in developing new food items and provide a place for start-up businesses to develop and expand speciality food and catering businesses.

Partners include Farm-to-Table, a cooperative working on a restaurant and microbrewery, and Dawson Community College, which plans a culinary school program that would use the restaurant for hands-on experience.

Contact the center for information related to product development, regulatory compliance, and other assistance in developing new products from farm to market. The center also has information regarding farm-based energy production and other value-added agricultural enterprises.

(http://agr.mt.gov/foodandag/FADC-Glendive.asp)

As a result of House Bill 583 and a resulting proposal developed through the Dawson County Extension Office, one of four Montana Food and Agriculture Development Centers (FADC) will be based in Glendive. The Glendive center will help food entrepeneurs statewide with the development of their food business ideas.

Garth Clingingsmith, the FADC Food Technologist, will be available to help food entrepeneurs with any problems they might encounter in developing or processing their products as well as act as a liaison between entrepeneurs and the appropriate government agencies who license and/or regulate that segment of the food industry.

There are currently no services available in the state to help food entrepeneurs cultivate their businesses from a food science perspective. The Glendive center will partner with local economic development organizations, such as the Eastern Plains Resource Conservation and Development organization in Sidney, the Southeastern Montana Development Corporation in Colstrip, Great Northern Development in Wolf Point, and the five-county Eastern Plains Economic Development Corporation. By not duplicating efforts, we will be able to provide better service to our clientele through a strong collaborative network of service providers.

The FADC program will need to be reauthorized by the state legislature every two years. It is anticipated that the Glendive center will continue to expand its services within the region to increase the knowledge base of food entrepeneurs and consumers, alike. By increasing the stability of agriculturally-based communities throughout the region, the sustainability of rural eastern Montana will be improved.