Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1930-01-23
VALUE REPORTS

y A0A~hA A0AA
Helena-A total farm value OF
about S96, 900, 900 was disclosed by
December / estimates of Montana's
CROP production in 1929. This figure
compares with $126, 900 900 for 1928;
$l56, 100000 for the record of 1927
and the 1924 average value OF $l22,-
$1,000, according to the December
report of the state-federal crop re-
! porting service.
The resulting cash income of Mon
tana farmers in 1923 vas about
| $4,000, 900 which suggests that the
| 1929 valuation for crops will show
an income for the current year OF
about $55, 600 1000.
Since fully half of Montana's ag-
ricultural income usually comes
| from the sale of livestock and live
| stock products, a consideration OF the
| latter sources of income is of inter-
| est.
Market records and other data
| while incomplete for purpose Of es-
| timating the actual livestock In
come, nevertheless indicat that the
livestock income in 1929 will show
little if any decrease compared with
1928. In this situation somewhat
low prices for cattle, sheep, WOOL and
hogs in 1929 will probably find enut
increase in marketings to bring the
total of such sales almost up to that
OF 1928. Shifts in income from 9TH
err livestock sources promise to be off
setting.
Taking the livestock income for
1929, about equal to that OF 1923
with the crop income as indicated,
the total income of agriculture IN
Montana in 1929 will probably fall
about 10 per cen below that of 1928
and only slightly lower than the av-
erage of the period 1924-1928.
A hot dry summer curtailed the
1929 production Of non-irrigated
crops generally and especially the
grain crops. Higher prices than in
1928 failed in most cases to offset
the production declines, the principal
exceptions being the hay, the potato
and the applet crop. Minor crops in
Guiding sugar beets, seed and canning
peas and alfalfa seed, largely because
Of increased acreage in 1929, show
both larger production and greater
farm value compared with 1928.
The most important decline in farm
value came in case Of the wheat crop
which, despite a better price, was
worth but $38,OOO,O 90 in 1929 compar-
ed with SOS, 900, 900 in 1928. Since
about 80 per cent of Montana farms
grow wheat, the lower income from
this crop will be rather generally dis
tributed, although in north central,
northeastern and east central Mon
tana, where wheat is grown ex-
tensively and with relatively fewer
offsets in the way of irrigated crops
and livestock income, the effect OF the
reduced wheat prices will be felt more
than in the rest of the state. On the
other hand in western, central and
southern Montana, which makes up
somewhat more than half of the total
agricultural area Of the state, the re-
duced income from weat will be OIL
set to a large extend by the returns
from a more favorable production OF
irrigated and special crops as well as
from some increase in livestock,
sales.
In this area, furthermore, the
Yields Of wheat were better than IN
northern and eastern Montana.
The 1929 season still found Mon
ana farmers increasing their unit
holdings of land and acreage crop
ped. Prior to 1925 cheap lands and
favorable leasing terms encouraged
such expansion and since that time
power machinery in the way of trac-
tors, cultivators and combines have
encouraged consultations, especially
in the dry land wheat areas. The
large bulk of this new equipment
having been acquired during the past
three years, has probably been pur-
chased from the proceeds Of the big
grain crops Of 1927 and 1928. The
poorer 1929 crop may be expected to
curtail somewhat the demand for ad-
ditional equipment Of this type, at
least until that time when the but
look for the next years crop may be-
come an influence. !
Sheep numbers in Montana have
now reached their highest level since
the war and while the 1929 dry sum-
mer has resulted in heavier than