Terry, MT

Agriculture is an industry with risks as well as opportunity. Irrigated and dryland farmers have to weigh input costs against potential income for any given crop in order to make planting decisions. Therefore, it is critical that producers have some different cropping options to consider when making their decisions.

Prairie County Extension will host an educational meeting, “Opportunities in Agriculture,” on October 20, 2008 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the American Legion in Terry to give area ag producers the chance to learn about two more feasible crop alternatives for our region. Producers will have the chance to visit with commodity contractors from the malt barley and oilseed industry at this meeting. This will be a great opportunity for farmers to learn about some crop diversification alternatives available in our region, both from the agronomic perspective of what it takes to raise the crop as well as the economic perspective of marketing the crop.

Guest speakers will be Jeremy Klempel of Busch Agriculture Resources, Inc. and Mike Bergman of Safflower Technologies International, LLC. Both companies are based out of the Sidney area. Klempel will discuss some of the basic agronomics of growing malting barley as well as how barley crops in this region can be contracted with Busch Ag. Bergman will talk about opportunities to raise and market safflower and other oilseed crops in Eastern Montana. Safflower Technology International works with oilseed producers on crop agronomics as well as marketing end products such as safflower oil and birdseed.

For more information about this meeting, contact the Prairie County Extension Office at 635-2121.

The short term project chosen after Terry conducted Study Circles is now visible to the world. Terry wanted to make their community look inviting to encourage people to venture into town off the interstate… beyond the 4 Corners gas station. Sandra Brown was the spearhead behind this project that got many more partners involved in contributing money, time or resources like heavy moving equipment to make it happen. The work has paid off and lights are in the future — really not necessary in the summer months when it’s light until nearly 10PM but will make the community look welcome in the dead of winter. This is also next to the new Backcountry Byway, Highway 253 now paved all the way to Brockway.
Hope other can list all the partners who helped make this inviting entry into Terry.

Information from Catherine Cooney, Program Director for the Montana Community Foundation:

The Montana Community Foundation receives grant money annually from the Steele-Reese Foundation for a small grant program for rural communities under 5,000 in population. We make grants of up to $5,000 in the areas of rural education, rural humanities, rural welfare, rural health and rural conservation. We only have $47,000 to distribute for the entire state so it’s very, very competitive. This is the only general grant program we have now for nonprofit organizations in Montana since all of our other unrestricted grant money is being devoted to programs for our local community foundations.

A few of you have requested that I send this information to you every year so you can share this opportunity with your local charities. Please do not apply for this program for your local community foundation, but if you would like to forward the information to a few nonprofits in your area, attached are the guidelines and the application form. The due date for applications is February 15, 2008.

Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!

Catherine Cooney
Program Director
Montana Community Foundation
17 2nd Street East, Suite 210
Kalispell, MT 59901
p 406-755-4525
f 406-755-4525
ccooney@mtcf.org
www.mtcf.org

Grant Application Cover Sheet
Grant Guidelines

On Wednesday, December 19th, Optim and Trinity will be in Terry to present the findings of their extensive research into the Scope of Service and Master Facility Plan for PCHC. Please join us at 4:00pm at Terry High School in the Board Room on Wednesday December 19th. We have room for about 30, so come early and bring questions.

If you have any questions before of after the meeting please call Reed at 635-5511 or 951-0122.

The next phase in Horizons is Visioning. This “Visioning” will provide the opportunity for over 100 people to share what they want Prairie County to be like in the future.

The first step will be a community survey which will be available to pick up at local Terry businesses November 21-December 11. The first 125 people who return their survey to Netzer Hardware, Prairie Unique, or Sassy One Clothing on December 4th or 11th during Chamber Holiday promotions will receive $5 in Chamber Bucks! Returning your survey will also enter you in a drawing for two prizes: $500 and $250 in Chamber Bucks. The drawing will take place on December 13th.

Horizons Community Visioning Survey for Terry-Prairie

December 13th is the date of the Prairie County Visioning Event. The evening will begin with a free community supper sponsored by Horizons at 5:30 p.m. at the Bolin Multipurpose Room. Following supper, visioning facilitators will help us decide how we can make Prairie County a thriving community. The last event of the evening will be the drawing for the two Chamber Bucks prizes!!

One of the great things about a blog is that you can post comments to the site. At the end of each article, there is a link that says “Comments”. It will say “No Comments” if nothing has been posted yet, and “1 Comment” if one comment has been posted. Just click on this link, and it will take you to a page where you can read other people’s comments and post a comment of your own if you wish. Your comment may not appear immediately, so just check back again later. This feature provides a great way for you to give feedback on the ideas presented in the blog and to let us know what you are interested in.

The Horizons Community Action Forum that took place on February 26th generated some great ideas for community projects.

You have an open invitation to pursue any of the ideas that came up in the Study Circles process. Projects could include:

-Adding value to local agriculture commodities (Biofuel production, oilseed crop production, producing specialty meat products, backgrounding cattle, etc.)

-Establish an endowment foundation and/or “angel network” of investors to invest in local business ventures

-Develop recreation opportunities (could lead to opportunities for local entrepreneurs) such as motorcycle/ATV trails, hiking trails, river floating, birding, and photography

-Revive the drive-in theater as a for profit or non-profit

-Recruit professionals and entrepreneurs to Terry (especially young people)

-Put Prairie County opportunities on www.comehomemontana.org

-Locate a warehouse business or product assembly business in Prairie County (for example, Amazon.com has warehouses located throughout the country to ship from)

-Start a shuttle bus service (transportation for medical, dental, sporting events, etc)

-Build an assisted living facility for senior citizens

-Start a second hand store (could be operated as a for profit business or to benefit a community organization like the Attic in Glendive does)

-Explore the possibility of building a hotel/convention center/restaurant

-Create a dog exercise park (for travelers and locals)

-Start a Bed & Breakfast

-Plan recreational tournaments (youth and/or adult basketball, softball, corn toss, etc.)

-Create more signage for Terry (along interstate, old Cenex sign, etc.)

-Establish a credit union in Terry

-Create historic tourism opportunities for travelers (attract tourists to local historic sites)

-Address community housing needs

There are a number of other community organizations that are committed to supporting community projects like the Prairie County Conservation District, the Prairie County Economic Development Council, and the Prairie County Chamber of Commerce.