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Success Stories

A mother and three daughters pose around a dining room table. There are lace curtains and blue wall in the background and some dishes on the table in the foreground.

“This is Home” – A Family Finds Their Forever Home in Calais, Maine

One of the first rooms Heather Gagne and her daughters began redecorating in their new home is the dining room, shown in the top photo. They have been busy repainting and making other updates. Raising a family in coastal Machias, Maine may sound lovely, but for Heather Gagne recent years proved stressful. There were few housing options in their Downeast community, and Heather was glad to find a rental home to…
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Use the filters below to find additional stories about how our programs have helped rural communities across the nation.

Search Results: 71 Stories
American flag above Life Floor manufacturing equipment

Making A Splash in Rural South Dakota

Growing up, we all remember visiting the local pool or water park. Lifeguards blew a whistle warning us to slow down as we dashed to the refreshing water on dangerous slippery, molten-hot concrete. But today’s pools, water parks and splash pads are much safer thanks to… [Read More]
Economic DevelopmentManufacturingSmall Business
People holding bison jerkey

Roam Free Ranch Uses USDA To Expand Markets

Roam Free Ranch (https://goroamfree.com) is a 16,000 acre grass-fed bison ranch in Hot Springs, Montana.  In 2020, Roam Free Ranch utilized a USDA Rural Development Value Added Producer Grant to secure funding to help scale production capacity and expand their markets.… [Read More]
BusinessLocal FoodsSmall BusinessSustainable/Organic Foods
Man in front of truck

USDA RD Helps Family-Owned Montana Company Keep On Trucking

Hanson Trucking, a small enterprise located in Columbia Falls, Mont., is a family-owned trucking company which has been in business for over three decades.  Hanson Trucking is dedicated to supporting Montana’s rural economy and providing local jobs within Flathead County.… [Read More]
Small Business
Man inside his brewery

Army Veteran Brings Brewing Back to Butte

In 2015, Tony Olson, who is a member of the Great Falls Little Shell Tribe and a U.S. Army National Guard Veteran, brought craft brew back to Butte, Mont.  He used USDA Rural Development Rural Energy for America Program funding to install solar panels on his brewery’s roof… [Read More]
REAPSmall BusinessTribal
Man fixing car

Small Business Success: Glacier Collision Worx of Montana

Rick Crook, owner of Glacier Collision Worx, in Kalispell, Mont., realized his dream of owning his own autobody collision shop through a combination of financing including a Small Business Administration loan, a loan through TrailWest Bank and Montana West Economic Development's… [Read More]
Small Business
REcreate gives 1% back to local non-profits to provide better opportunities for Flathead County

Bringing Micro-Manufacturing Back to Main Street

When Carol Lynn Lapotka purchased an historic building on Polson, Mont.'s Main Street to house REcreate Designs, LLC., her small-batch manufacturing plant and artist co-op, she knew renovations would be needed.  So, this environmentally-focused entrepreneur applied for USDA… [Read More]
REAPSmall Business
Matt Drew illustrates how controlled germination, which essentially tricks the grains into waking up, allows Montana Craft Malt to yield up to 10,000 metric tons of product annually from Montana-grown barley.

Craft Malt Company Germinating Growth in Butte

Montana Craft Malt Company (MCM), which sprouted as an idea from a 2016 white paper published by the State Department of Agriculture and the Department of Commerce, is now America's first commercial-scale specialty malting plant.  With the help of a USDA Rural… [Read More]
BusinessSmall Business
Image of a Bridger aerospace bi-water scooper

Super Scoopers in the Skies

Montana's wildfire season came a little early this year, as a result of drier-than-normal and windy conditions. But, Bridger Aerospace (BA), a company based in Belgrade, Mont., was ready to answer the call with their two new CL-415EAF "Super Scooper" fire suppression… [Read More]
BusinessSmall Business
Rose and Crown Apothecary offers a variety of herbal products created from plants native to the Pacific Northwest.

Entrepreneur Training Helps Herbal Hobbyist Create a Rural Business

Sarah Butte wanted to use her background in sustainable horticulture to start a business creating herbal products from garden-grown and foraged plants. She created a CSA and then sold her products through a natural medicine clinic, but she never earned enough for… [Read More]
Small Business

New Solar Array Helps Brewery Keep The Lights On

In rural Ord, Nebraska, Scratchtown Brewing Company, LLC is saving nearly 70 percent in energy costs thanks, in part, to a Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) renewable energy grant awarded in 2019 to purchase a new 24-kilowatt rooftop solar array. These renewable energy… [Read More]
BusinessEnergyInfrastructureRenewable EnergyRural DevelopmentSmall BusinessSolar Energy

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