Wheat, Montana’s biggest crop

What is Montana’s biggest cash crop?

Montana’s biggest cash crop is wheat. In 2022, Montana produced 139 million bushels of wheat, up from 10 million bushels the year before, amounting to a total of $1.3 billion in production value¹.

Montana is the United States’ third-largest wheat-producing state. In 2022, farmers harvested wheat from roughly 4.9 million acres of land statewide, up from 4.5 million the year before¹.

Of the roughly 27,000 farms across the state, over 8,950 of them are wheat farms, averaging 2,100 acres each.

Why is wheat Montana’s biggest cash crop?

Montana’s cool, dry climate and fertile soil, paired with the state’s low population density and large open spaces create ideal conditions for growing wheat and other agricultural products.

Montana has a long history of producing premium grain products. Its local farms have a strong reputation for producing high-quality grain products for baking, 80% of which is sold from West Coast ports to businesses in the Middle East and Asia. 

Most of Montana’s agriculture production takes place in the relatively flat central and eastern portions of the state, particularly in the north-central part, called the “Triangle Area”.

What are the top 3 crops in Montana?

The top three crops in Montana are wheat, hay, and barley. Wheat is Montana’s biggest cash crop, with local farmers producing 139 million bushels of wheat in 2022, amounting to $1.3 billion in production value, but hay and barley fall close behind¹.

In 2022, Montana farmers produced over 4 million tons of hay at a roughly $976 million production value and 34 million bushels of barley at a $248 million production value¹.

Altogether, the total production value of wheat, hay, and barley produced in Montana in 2022 amounted to roughly $1.5 billion¹.

Other top crops in Montana

Peas, lentils, corn, and flax

Due to a global overproduction of wheat, Montana farmers have turned to growing other crops besides wheat, such as peas and lentils.

On the roughly 18 million acres of agricultural land in Montana, Montana farmers also grow the following:

• Lentils ($128.6 m)¹
• Peas ($94 m)¹
• Corn ($56.4 m)¹
• Chickpeas ($45.3 m)¹
• Canola ($44.8 m)¹
• Flaxseed ($18.6 m)¹
• Oats ($7 m)¹
• Safflower ($5.9 m)¹
• Sugarbeets (N/A)¹

Pulse crops (crops harvested for their seeds), such as lentils and peas, have taken on an increasingly important role in crop rotations across Montana and have drawn many new buyers to the state in recent years.

The smell of sugarbeets: If you’re driving through Montana in the fall, chances are you’ll catch the distinct smell of burning sugar cane.

Farmers burn their sugar cane to remove the leaves and tops of the plant, leaving only the sugar-bearing stock, thereby making the harvest easier and more cost-efficient. Debates remain about the environmental impacts of this method.

Cherries and honey

Farmers in Montana have also expanded their harvests to include various fruits such as apples and cherries.

The region around Flathead Lake is well-known for its cherries, commonly called “Flathead Cherries”. In the summer, you can visit some of these farms, where they’ll give you a basket and let you stroll their cherry orchards and collect fresh cherries.

Montana also happens to be one of the top five honey-producing states in the nation. With more than 120,000 bee colonies across the state, Montana produced roughly 7.5 million pounds of honey in 2022.

Discover more about Montana’s economy

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Sources:

1. USDA/NASS 2022 State Agriculture Overview for Montana – datasheet