Joel Krautter, R-Sidney, after reviewing the MTFP analysis. “I’m concerned the needs of rural areas are not being balanced with the state’s urban areas,” said Rep.
While the 2005 law that created the Big Sky trust calls for the department to “balance” the needs of urban and rural areas, a Montana Free Press analysis of commerce department data finds that rural counties, home to a third of Montana residents, have received only 16 percent of the $26 million in job creation grants awarded over the program’s history. The small-town company, however, is an anomaly for the job grants program, which is administered by the Montana Department of Commerce. “For a company like us, that’s a major factor,” said General Manager Thomas Dilworth. A $22,500 grant award through the program will help Big Sandy Organics hire an expected three new employees this year. Headquartered in the 600-person town between Great Falls and Havre, the four-year-old business manufactures the Kracklin’ Kamut-brand wheat snack, transforming locally grown large-kernel kamut wheat into a Montana-made product that’s beginning to find its way into stores nationwide.Īs the company attempts the leap from one-off arrangements with mom-and-pop stores to contracts with national distributors, it’s getting help from a key state jobs program, the Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund, designed to nurture businesses that can provide Montana workers with stable, well-paid jobs. (Montana Free Press) There aren’t too many businesses adding jobs amid the rural fields of north-central Montana these days, but Big Sandy Organics is doing just that.