STATE OF MONTANA 31 



BARLEY— SEEDED ACREAGE BY VARIETIES— 1958 



Barley is a prominent Montana crop and since 1941 has ranked third to wheat 

 and hay in production value. The 1,716,000 acres estimated in July 1958 to be 

 seeded to barley in the State this year is more than one-tenth of the Nation's total 

 and is exceeded only by seedings in North Dakota and California. 



During the years 1942 and 1943 barley acreage expanded nearly three-fold and 

 most of the additional acreage was seeded with the Compana variety. A survey 

 covering 1,848 barley gi'owers shows that while other varieties have gained during 

 the past four years, Compana still has a wide lead. It heads the list in all but several 

 western and central counties. The Vantage variety is prominent in western and 

 northeastern portions and is followed by a new malting variety named Betzes, the 

 acreage of which was concentrated principally in Pondera, Glacier, Toole, Teton 

 and Chouteau counties. The Titan variety is being grown generally over most of 

 the State but most is east of an imaginary line running north and south through 

 Great Falls. 



District and State acreages for the major varieties appear below. Included in 

 "Other" is Moravian with 24,000 acres, Sanalta 11,000 acres, Hanchen 8,000 acres, 

 Montcalm 7,000 acres, and Glacier 4,000 acres. The remaining acreage under "Other" 

 is comprised of the following varieties: Bonneville, Charlottetown 80, Freja, Fron- 

 tier, Gem, Harlan, Hiland, Husky, Plains, Spartan, Traill, Trebi and Wisconsin. 



DISTRICT COMPANA VANTAGE BETZES TITAN HORN OTHER TOTAL. 



Acr. I'ct.* Act. Pct.« Acr. Pet.* Acr. Pet.* Acr. Pet.* Acr. Pet.* ACRES 



137,000 17 45,000 6 18,000 



2,000 1 24.000 6 14,000 



6,000 " " 



4,000 



STATE 1,147,000 67 196,000 11 149,000 9 103.000 6 32,000 2 



• Percent of Total District Acreage. 



BARLEY— SUPPLY AND DISPOSITION— JULY I. 1956 TO APRIL 1, 1957 



Prior to the Great expansion in barley acreage, which started in 1942, the size 

 of the barley harvest in Montana was less than oats and was often exceeded by 

 several other crops m value. Most of the one million to six million bushels produced 

 annually in the State was used by growers or sold to local dealers for feed. Only 

 a small amount moved across Montana's borders for processing and other disposal. 



Barley gained prominence rapidly after 1941 as more acreage became available 

 for seeding with the reduced acreage allotted to wheat. Production ranged between 

 8 million bushels in 1942 and 26 million bushels in 1948. During the next three 

 years when wheat allotments were not in effect the seedings of barley held fairly 

 steady and the harvests were between 13V2 million and I6V2 million bushels. With 

 wheat acreage allotments imposed again in 1954. barley was planted on much more 

 land and production that year reached 30y2 million bushels. Slightly more acreage 

 was seeded in 1955 and with yield per acre above average, the production slightly 

 exceeded 40% million bushels. This was only another record to be broken in 195'7 

 when new barley acreage was picked up with a sharp reduction in durum wheat. 

 The 45.6 million bushels harvested last year may be exceeded by the 1958 crop, 

 which at this writing is forecast at 48.5 million bushels. 



The lar?e barley crops of recent years have coincided with sizeable crops of 

 wheat and other small grains and have created some storage and marketing problems. 

 Much of the barley has moved to market outlets through the government loan 

 route with the Commodity Credit Corporation taking over most of the large amounts 

 placed under loan. Supply, disposal and stocks of barley for a recent period are 

 presented by districts as follows: 



DISPOSAIj between .iri.Y 1, 1956, STORED APRIL, 1, 1957 



AND APRIL 1. 19.57 Off Farm On Farm On Farm 



Total For Feed and In Elevators, Under Gov't. Not LTnder 



DISTRICT Supply Fall Seedinga Sold Warehouses, Etc . I.ioan Gov't. Loan 



Bushels Bushels Pct.l Bushels Pet. 1 Bushels Pet. i Bushels Pet. i Bushels Pet. i 



N. West 1,979,100 906,400 46 3S,S,fi00 20 24,200 1 173,200 9 4.^6 400 24 



N. Central. 18,340.700 1,105,400 6 4,379,200 24 1,432,700 S S, 798. 100 48 2,625'300 14 



N. Ea«t 4,169,200 1,128,500 27 748,100 IS 111.700 3 966.900 23 1214 000 ''9 



Central 4.244.400 1,018,800 24 1,234,900 29 167,500 4 584.500 14 1 238*700 *"» 



S. West 1,687,200 453.400 27 749.400 44 9.700 1 140,!»00 8 333*800 '>0 



S. Cenfral... 3,594.300 1.351. SOO 37 1.584.600 44 104.800 3 22,300 1 ,'i30'sOO 15 



S. East 1,194,300 664.300 56 1S3,.500 15 25. .100 2 30,800 3 ?90'400 24 



STATE 35.209.2002 6.628,600 19 9,268,600 26 1,875,900 5 10,716,700 30 6,719',400 20 



1 Percent of Total Supply. 



2 Comprised of the following amounts: Farm and commercial stocks .July 1, 1956, of 2,952,700 



bushels; purchases for feed and seed July 1, 1956, to April 1, 1957, of 2,530,.500 bushels; 

 production in 1956 of 29,726,000 bushels. 



