Montana State Libra^ 



3 0864 1003 2441 



Montana Agricultural Statistics Districts 



About the Cover: 



Barley has been in the news recently, with the construction of the International Malting 

 Company's (IMC) malt plant in Great Falls. Scheduled for completion in the spring of 2005, 

 the malt plant will increase demand for Montana's high quality malt barley. The plant will 

 require 16 million bushels of malting grade barley annually from farmers. 



In 2003, Montana's growers sold 14.8 million bushels of malt barley to all malting 

 companies in Montana. At the current price of $3.40 per bushel, the impact from IMC's 

 malt plant alone in grower sales will be $54 million. The plant will ship just over 60 rail 

 cars of malt per week to brewers and other malt customers in the western United States 

 and to exporters on the West Coast. 



Currently, Montana ranks third in barley production behind North Dakota and Idaho. As 

 demand for Montana's malt barley grows, the state is going to become the malt capital of 

 the world. 



The cover photos were taken by Annette Bold and are of their operation located in Winifred, 

 Montana. 



