WHEAT 



It is significant that wheat, which is 

 one of the most important crops in the 

 world, as well as the United States, 

 should occupy a high place in rank of in- 

 come to Montana farmers. In fact, this 

 crop contributed more to the cash income 

 of Montana farmers in 1927, than sales 

 of all other crops combined. About half 

 of the total acreage devoted to crops in 

 the state is planted to wheat. Over 

 eighty per cent of the farms in Montana 

 grow greater or lesser acreages of the 

 international bread crop. 



More than three fourths of the total 

 crop sales income for 1927 came from 

 the wheat crop, the total value of which 

 was estimated at $76,623,000 and from 

 which the cash income is estimated at 

 $70,274,000. Total value of the 1926 crop was estimated at $50,123,000 and the 

 cash income from wheat that year at $40,985,000. 



Increased acreage over past years, combined with higher yields per acre than 

 for many years, gave Montana the largest wheat crop in her history in 1927. 



Montana's disadvantage in marketing wheat due to high freight rates ac- 

 companying the long hauling to market is partially offset by the premiums re- 

 ceived by Montana farmers for protein content. 



MONTANA'S POSITION 



^CRE YIELD OF WHEAT 1927 



SPRING 



W/NTER.^ 



There is no gainsaying that Montana wheat growers are situated somewhat 

 unfavorably in respect to marketing their product at the established markets. 

 Were it not for some other factors that react more favorably it probably would 

 be difficult to compete with the Dakotas, Minnesota and other important wheat 

 growing sections. 



It is a fact that Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming were the only states in the 

 country. in 1927, where wheat, on the basis of the prices received by farmers 

 on December 1, was valued at an average price of less than a dollar per bushel. 

 Montana's wheat was valued at about 2 

 cents a bushel more than that of Wyom- 

 ing, but somewhat less than the Idaho 

 crop. In Montana, at least, this low price 

 is due to the long freight haul necessary 

 to transport wheat to milling centers and 

 to deficit producing states. 



The bright spot on the Montana farm- 

 er's horizon is the fact that on land that 

 is cheaper than in other wheat areas, 

 with lower taxes and lower production 

 costs than in most states he can produce 

 wheat that commands a premium in any 

 market in which it is sold. Too, new 

 markets are being found for the state's 

 wheat crop. About ten per cent of the 

 wheat exports of the state go to the west 

 coast annually, necessitating shorter 

 freight hauls than to eastern milling 

 centers. A considerable portion of the 

 wheat crop is now being milled in the 

 state. In 1925 this amounted to 22 per 

 cent of the state production, aod in 1924 

 it was 20 per cent. 



