Montana Small Grain Guide

1. Montana Small Grain Guide History of Grain Production in Montana

2. In the Beginning • Cereal Grains in 1860’s to feed mining boom towns • 1870 = 831 farms and 150,000 acres of cultivated land • Homestead Boom 1900’s spawned by: advent of “Dry-Farming” methods, low price machinery, and Great Northern Campaign

3. Homesteaders • “Golden Triangle”, then the “Highline”, and “Eastern Mt” • 1910 Land Office processed 1000 to 1500 homestead filings per month • 13,000 farms in 1900 • 16,ooo farms in 1910 • 58,000 farms in 1920

4. Good Wheat Conditions • 1909 - 1916 lots of well-timed rain averaging 16” per year • 1915 & 1916 yields ranged from 35-50 bushels per acre • World War I drove up prices • 1917 Lever Act set wheat prices to a $2 min

5. Bad Conditions • 1919 - 1225 20% of farms in MT went out of production • drought • locusts • wind • $1.20 drop in price • 2.4 bu/acre average • 1/2 of all farmers lost their land • Land prices cut in half • MT only state to lose population in 1920’s

6. Wheat & Barley • wheat cultivated as early as 15,000 B.C. • Hard red winter wheat “Turkey Red” brought to US by Russian Mennonite immigrants to Kansas in 1873 • Wheat brought to Montana from Utah in 1864 • 14,000 acres in 1874 • 100,000 acres in 1900 • 435,000 acres in 1910 • Marquis (spring wheat) from Canada in 1913 • 2 million acres in 1915 • 4.4 million acres in 1929

7. Barley • originated in western Asia about 5,000 B.C. • introduced in the Colonies to be used for brewing • popular near large cities • Wheat allotments in 1954 made 1,000,000 acres in MT available for other uses, Barley was most attractive alternative • ranks 3rd in importance in MT

8. Agriculture Today • by 1980’s, 60% of MT farmers have more than 20 years experience • Must balance levels of inputs to maximize PROFIT not yield