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Conservation Stewardship Program Funding Fixed

By Traci Bruckner on March 27, 2013 - 12:00am

The Center for Rural Affairs Farm Bill Helpline is ready to assist farmers and ranchers to take advantage of one of the nation's best conservation programs.

Farmers and ranchers will again be able to apply for the Conservation Stewardship Program. CSP rewards producers for conservation practices on working lands. Funding for enrollments was accidentally cut off in the government spending bill passed last October. Congress recently passed legislation to fix that right before their Easter recess.

Women’s History Month: A Bright Future For Women-Owned Small Businesses

By Guest Writer on March 25, 2013 - 4:51pm

Today, women-owned businesses are the fastest-growing segment of new businesses in our economy.

In fact, an analysis by American Express suggests that the number of women-owned businesses has risen by 200,000 over the past year alone, which is equivalent to just under 550 new women-owned firms created each day.

Regardless of how you slice the data, we know that this trend is growing and that women are over-indexing in entrepreneurship.

Expanding Health Care Coverage is a Smart Investment

By Steph Larsen on March 25, 2013 - 12:00am

Hard-working Montana families need the security of quality health care. A bill in the legislature, HB 458, could help 69,000 Montanans gain that security. These people are your neighbors - farmers and ranchers, small business owners, retirees, and entrepreneurs that don’t get health insurance from their employers.

HB 458 would expand Montana’s Medicaid program, and create an estimated 12,000 to 16,000 jobs over the next 8 years. Over $2 billion would return to Montana’s economy in that same time period as a result of increased economic activity in the health sector.

This Young Woman Transformed a Building and Her Dreams

By Juan Sandoval on March 21, 2013 - 5:25pm

Mallory Christoffersen is the REAP Women’s Business Center Entrepreneur of the Year for 2012. Mallory displays the entrepreneurial spirit so crucial to women-owned businesses and the rural communities they call home.

The owner of Simply Unique Salon, Spa and Tanning in downtown Norfolk knew it would be a major undertaking to open her own business. Her experience at another salon gave her confidence that it was time to branch out on her own.

There’s More to It than Wind

By Guest Writer on March 20, 2013 - 7:51pm

Rural America is privy to some of the juicy plots of land for wind power production. It’s well known throughout the energy sphere that sprawling, unencumbered land masses are best suited for wind collection. And, fortunately enough, most of those land masses sit in countryside communities.

But that’s old news. We’ve all heard about wind power potential. And interestingly enough, that’s not the only place where rural America fits into the equation for nationwide sustainability.

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