Rural Development Bureau
The Rural Development Bureau serves Montana through the Agriculture Finance Program, the Montana Agricultural Heritage Program, Commodity Check-Off programs, the State Hail Insurance Program, and the Montana Agricultural Statistics Service. The Bureau is charged with assisting producers and entrepreneurs in enhancing our agricultural industry and the Montana economy.
Statewide agricultural statistics and projections are developed through a Federal/State cooperative agreement administered through the division. This information is made available through a comprehensive agricultural statistics bulletin and grain movement summary along with other production, price and income reports.
The Agriculture Finance program is responsible for making grants and lower interest rate loans for rural youth, rural youth organizations, and other qualified farmers and ranchers. The Agriculture Finance Program also provides funds for Rural Community Development Grants, Building Our American Communities, and the Young Ag Couples Conference.
The State Hail Insurance Program insures any crop grown in Montana from losses caused by hail damage. The Program was established in 1917 to provide producers with basic hail insurance coverage to protect producers input costs.
The Rural Development Division administers three commodity check-off programs. The Montana Potato Research & Market Development Program and the Cherry Research & Market Developent Program are administered under the Agricultural Commodity Research and Market Development Enabling Act. The Alfalfa Seed Program is administered by the division under the Alfalfa Seed Industry Act. See links at right for more information.
Contact Information:
P.O. Box 200201
Helena, Montana 59620-0201
Phone: (406) 444-2402
Fax: (406) 444-9442
Email: agr@mt.gov
