Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce

40 Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce www.greatfallschamber.org A G R I C U LT U R E T Photo by Photo Solutions he last two years have opened our eyes in many ways. COVID has created a number of interesting dynamics, unfortunate consequences, and many tragic stories, but one thing for sure, it has touched and affected all of us including the agriculture industry! It has shown us how fragile our supply chain is, how limited our processing system is (mainly monopolized by four major companies), and how the slightest disruption from production, to processing, to transportation (both to the processors and to the final retail destination),to sharp price increases for the final consumers due to these forces. In Montana, agriculture is the leading economic industry for our state at almost $4.6 billion, with tourism and travel coming in second at $3.1 billion in 2021. It is a lot of money, but I heard a recent news story that Nebraska's Ag industry is over $20 billion – over four times more than Montana. Each year, of course the numbers fluctuate, but Montana ranks between 27th and 30th in agricultural receipts for all commodities. (1) Our challenge has been that we produce the raw product and for the majority of the time, we ship out raw product, for another company in another state to manufacture that product into a final consumable product. Our goal and the Governor's goal, is to bring into the state ag manufacturing facilities that pay good wages and salaries and turn the raw product into a value-added commodity to either sell directly to the consumer or ship to a final retailer. There are efforts underway and being led by many Montana organizations and companies to begin more agri-manufacturing right here in Montana! Montana leads 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 had several tough 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 2019 and $4.6 billion this most recent year statistics are available as 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 almost always perennial top district in production and net farm income - is the North Central District which contains nine (9) counties north of Great Falls making up the 'Golden Triangle'. The Central District, which includes Great Falls and the surrounding nine counties to the east and west of Great Falls, will bounce each year from being second to sometimes fourth in net farm income (NFI). The most recent statistics showed the North Central District at #1 again with $227 million in NFI (beating LY number of $172 million) and the Central District with almost $73 million (less than the $135 million LY) and finishing #4 in NFI. 2 Agriculture is Montana's #1 Industry

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