Montana loses with each American Prairie Reserve acquisition

American Prairie Reserve has been crowing about their recent ranch purchases in Phillips County. What they won’t tell you is those acquisitions come at a cost to you and every other Montanan.

It’s important to reflect on what we’re losing when American Prairie Reserve removes land from agricultural production. Most regretfully we’re losing the next generation of family ranchers whose job it is to grow food. The dangerous decline in American agricultural production over the last few decades is accelerated if we allow nonprofit groups to buy up prime Montana ranch land. It’s no wonder we’re seeing such increases in food prices.

Our communities are also losing the families who work those ranches. Families fill our schools and require goods and services, creating customers for the businesses in our ag-oriented towns. Without those families, schools and communities suffer and shrink. It’s a devastating economic and cultural loss.