Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1357477
ince the dawn of time, agriculture has been a main stay and life-sustaining element of mankind. In the very earliest of times, people had to cultivate the ground to produce their food. Livestock was a source of food and an indicator of wealth from centuries ago. In modern times, agriculture remains the staple economic driver in Montana. We lead the nation in diverse food crops and agriculture products! Montana produces some of the highest quality and most diverse crops in our country including wheat, barley, omega-3 canola products that help sustain salmon populations, industrial hemp, and pulse crops – peas, lentils, and beans – for the world. Leading all other industries in our state, agriculture generates more than $4 billion in economic output and impact for Montana. It has been a tough several years as agriculture had been in decline since topping $5 billion in 2014, dropping each year to just over $4 billion in 2017, and rebounding nicely with a 10% increase to total $4.4 billion as of fiscal year 2018. The industry was challenged with drought and increased prices of commodities a few years ago, but we have seen great crops and production in 2019 and 2020. We are second in the nation for total farmland with more than 58 million acres in production, and we are second for the average size of our farms at 2,156 acres per farm. There are seven agriculture districts in Montana. The top two districts, the North Central District to the north of Great Falls and the Central District, which includes Great Falls and the surrounding counties, produced net farm income (NFI) of $172 million and $135 million, respectively 1 . Montana leads the nation in many of the types of crops grown! Crops where we rank in the Top 5 in the country 2 : • Barley - #2 • Beans - Dry Edible - #2 • Garbanzo - #1 • Canola - #2 • Flaxseed - #2 • Hay, All - #5 Alfalfa - #3 • Hemp - #1 • Lentils - #1 for many years running! • Peas – Dry edible - #2 Austrian Winter Peas - #1 • Safflower - #2 • Wheat, All - #3 Wheat, Other Spring - #2 Wheat, Durum - #2 Wheat, Winter - #3 • Honorable mention goes to sugar beats which finished sixth in the nation. In Organic crops 2 : • Lentils - #1 • Peas, Dry - #1 • Durum Wheat - #1 • Spring Wheat - #1 • Winter Wheat - #2 • Barley - #8 40 Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce www.greatfallschamber.org A G R I C U LT U R E Montana Leads the Nation in Agriculture S Photo by Photo Solutions