FARMS AND CROPS 



Montana farmers, who in numbers constitute less than one per cent of the total 

 in the United States, in 1922 on 1.75 per cent of the total crop acreage of the country, 

 produced 1.03 per cent of the nation's total crop value. The percentages show the 

 Montana farmer handles more acreage than the average for the country. The number 

 of farmers in Montana is based on figures of the United States Bureau of the Census 

 for 1919. There is little doubt but that there has been a marked decline in the number 

 of farmers since the census listed 57,677 in this state. 



In 1922 Montana farmers cropped 6,872,000 acres and produced a total crop value 

 of $92,932,090. In acreage, Montana ranked twenty-fourth, and in total crop value, 

 thirty-first. The total crop value of the United States in 1922 was $8,501,395,000 and 

 the total crop acreage 370,472,000. 



Significant of the changing conditions in Montana is the relative standing, in 

 total crop value, of the ten counties that lead in crop production. Six of the ten lie in 

 eastern Montana, and in three of these six non-irrigated farming is exclusively followed, 

 and in the other three is at least equal to, if not of greater importance, than irrigated 

 farming. No less significant, however, is the standing of the counties in the total 

 estimated combined value of crops and live stock, as shown by a graph which appears 

 in this book. Five of the ten leading counties lie in eastern Montana, but in only one 

 of them is non-irrigated farming followed exclusively. In years past these non-irrigated 

 regions were big livestock producers, and it is predicted that diversified farming will 

 re-stock them. 



The sub-joined tables and graphs tell the story of farm numbers, acreages and 

 values; of crop production, distribution, and values in Montana. 



LAND VALUES. 



Value of Plow Lands Per Acre 



Tear 



Average of Average of Average of 



Poor Plow Lands Good Plow Lands All Plow Lands 



Montana Iowa United Montana Iowa ^^"^^^^ Montana Iowa ^^^^^f 



1923 $14 $115 $45 $31 $181 $85 $22 $153 $67 



Assessed Valuations — 1922, Montana: 



Irrigated lands $51.38 per acre. 



Non-Irrigated agriculturaj lands 13.48 per acre. 



Grazing lands 6.51 per acre. 



Census of 1920 — Average value per acre of all land in farms in Montana (without im- 

 provements) $19.73 



Average sale price of all state lands — 1909-1922 $15.37 



— 35 



