Browning chief., 1942-05-01
STATE FARMERS
DUE TO PRODUCE
ABUNDANT CROP
PREPARING TO SEND OUT LARGE
FLOOD OF FOOD IN PRES
ENT WAR CRISIS

Farmers and ranchers of Montana
are defiantly meeting what they re-
gard as the treacherous threat Of the
axis powers with the promise to pro-
duce this year the largest and most
varied crop In the history of the state,
spokesmen for the agricultural indus
try announced at Helena.
The farmers and ranchers are pre-
pairing to send out tremendous flood
Of food and fiber. In addition many
Of their sons are on the battle fronts
Of the United Nations. and more are
preparing to go.
At every state and national office
In Helena where men keep their fin
gers on the farm pulse there Is being
recorded a tremendous story OF tre-
mendous production. The pulse Of
Montana's farms and ranches Is throb-
bing.
At the offices Of Gov. Sam c. Ford,
State Veterinary Surgeon j. w. Butler,
Federal Agricultural Statistician Jay
G. Diamond, State Engineer Fred
Buck. Commissioner Of Agriculture Al
bert H. Kruse, and many others. the
reports Of Montana's agricultural pros
poets for 1912 are regarded as cheering.
The states farm income of 1941
second best in all Montana history, is
certain to be surpassed If the promise
Of today holds true.
In 1941 state farmers were paid q
total Of S153, ,649 900 for their products.
1s4l Ahead Of 1910
Montana's agriculture outpouring in
l94l forged far ahead Of that Of 1910,
when the value Of marketed farm
products amounted to sll2,7oo.OOo.
Greatly enhancing the states farm
outlook are the much better prices
virtually all farm products are bringing
on today's markets.
Montana's role in the food for
freedom" battle is being waged grimly
and seriously out on the plains, in
the lush irrigated valleys and in the
foothills. The hard-handed sons of the
soil are laboring long hours, day in
and day out. SO that Americas fight
ing men may keep up their strength
and spirit by eating superior food.
The weather man has been Coop
Grating 100 percent. AS the green of
spring spreads over the ranges and
the plow bites into the black, loamy
soil, the states multimillion dollar ir-
rigation plant is amply supplied with
water and the subsoil of the fields is
soaked to a record depth.
The snow of the mountains contains
from 30 to 60 percent more moisture
than average and there is from 10 to
Is percent more snow than average.
Melting and seeping down the noun
tainsides during the spring and early
summer months, this snow keeps the
reservoirs and the irrigation bitches
full when moisture for growing Is most
needed.
The average fall Of moisture through
the state has been above normal dur
ing the last several months.
There are those skeptics who might
say that 1t Is a long way from promise
to performance, since 1t Is now merely
the start Of the farming season. But
these persons should know that the
element of risk has been largely elm
mated from the Montana farm scene.
Not Such q Gamble Now
Farming no longer is the gamble 1t
was few years ago.
On some 1000. 900 acres of irrigated
land the chance of failure is slight.
Farmers on nonirrigated land in
large numbers have learned to apply
the methods of science to their fields,
thus hsuring the production Of crops
The practice of diversifying also has
served to reduce the element of risk
II one crop fails, there are other crops
that will surely come through.
There are few of the so-called one
crop farmers left in Montana.
A good part Of the battle Of crops