agricultural products. As U.S. farm production 

 continued apace, partly shielded from market realities 

 by domestic government programs which encouraged 

 expansion, surpluses accumulated and commodity prices 

 fell sharply. The abrupt turnaround found many farmers 

 heavily leveraged, which made it difficult for them to 

 adjust to the changed economic situation. Those farmers 

 whose solvency depended on the continual appreciation of 

 their land or who pursued an aggressive expansion 

 strategy were pushed toward insolvency. 



DIMENSIONS OF THE PROBLEM 



The precise extent and severity of the current 

 problems in Montana agriculture are not fully known due 

 to the lack of data. However, a reasonably clear 

 outline of the problem can be obtained from available 

 statistics. Some of these statistics are presented 

 below as follows: 



Farm Marketing 



Cash receipts from the sale of principal crops in 

 Montana have dropped precipitously since 1982. Between 

 1982 and 1985, cash receipts decreased 54.8%, followed 

 by a modest improvement in 1986 that left receipts 53% 

 below 1982 levels. ^ 



Export Sales 



The value of Montana agricultural exports dropped 

 55% in 1985 compared to the previous year. This 

 decrease translates into a $290.3 million loss in export 

 sales during one year alone. ^ 



