STATE OF MONTANA 



MESSAGE FROM THE COMMISSIONER 



It is with considerable pride that we present Volume XII of this series of statistics so useful and 

 valuable to the many agri-business concerns, federal and state agencies, farmers and ranchers and other 

 individuals who must necessarily formulate plans and implement programs to insure the continued and 

 orderly growth of Montana agriculture, the most basic industry of our economy. 



This report is a cooperative service of the Montana Department of Agriculture and the Statistical 

 Reporting Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and is the vehicle through which 

 authentic production and marketing information is made available to all concerned with agricultural 

 development. Accurate and meaningful statistics are most important to any well managed business. 

 Agriculture, with its dynamic technical and scientific changes constantly presenting new growth 

 potential and of course attendant problems, is Montana's biggest business and must necessarily have 

 readily at hand reliable information to properly take advantage of new growth possibihties and be in a 

 position to alleviate some of the problems. 



I know that we can count on the continued cooperation of the resourceful Montana farmers and 

 ranchers and the many federal and state agencies that make this publication possible to continue their 

 efforts to make this statistical report even more meaningful. 



