Tester announces more details of next Small Business Opportunity Workshop

Senator’s March 12 workshop in Great Falls to expand opportunities for farmers

(U.S. SENATE) – Senator Jon Tester today announced new details about his upcoming Small Business Opportunity Workshop in Great Falls, an event designed to connect Montana farmers with valuable resources to help them succeed.

Tester, the Senate’s only farmer, will hold his March 12 event in the Missouri Room of the Mansfield Civic Center.  There will be panel discussions on strategic marketing, risk management and finance, and beginning farmers and ranchers.

Montana participants scheduled to take part in Tester’s workshop include:

• Jeff Van Pevanage, Columbia Grain
• Bob Quinn, Kamut International
• Dick Deschamps and Dave Pitts, USDA Farm Service Agency
• Susan Cunningham, Cunningham Crop Insurance
• Paul Nelson, Northwest Farm Credit Service
• Kristen Gustafson Juras, University of Montana School of Law
• Gary Brester, Montana State University
• Jacob and Courtney Cowgill, Prairie Heritage Farm

Tester’s workshop is free and open to the public.  Montanans interested in attending are encouraged to RSVP at tester.senate.gov/agworkshop.

Tester’s Great Falls workshop, which runs from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., builds on the success of his agriculture jobs workshop held last spring in Bozeman.  The Great Falls Small Business Opportunity Workshop will follow Tester’s Women’s Small Business Opportunity Workshop in Missoula on February 21.

More than 2,000 Montana companies and individuals have attended Tester’s ten previous small business workshops in Great Falls, Bozeman, Kalispell, Billings, Butte and Missoula.

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