Montana Farmers Union last month celebrated the opening of their new facility that will press safflower into a cooking oil. The facility is called Montana Safflower.
Surrounded by golden oil-filled bottles, Farmer’s Union President Walt Schweitzer says it’s a good investment because it will incentivize farmers to grow a crop that’s well suited to the state’s drought and extreme weather.
"It is a great rotational crop. It has an eight to 10-foot root system, so it gets down and mines those nutrients in the water that leached below the root zone of many of the crops farmers grow here in Montana."
Most of Montana is in drought. The grain growing capital, the Golden Triangle, is one of the hardest hit areas after a warm, dry winter.
Schweitzer says the other upside is the crop can be grown, processed and sold locally rather than being shipped overseas like most other crops.
"Farmers in Montana right now are just trying to choose the crop that loses them the least amount of money. And because safflower – we're processing it here to be eaten by our neighbors, and so we're not as impacted by the tariffs for the sale of the crop."
This oil press was previously run as the Oil Barn, further north in Devon. Farmers Union purchased it along with local company Ag Processing Solutions.
Also in attendance at the press’s unveiling was local organic and regenerative farming expert Bob Quinn from Big Sandy. He says diversifying the crops farmers grow makes financial sense.
"And to have more possibilities for different income streams, and to give people also living here a chance to eat what we grow."
Montana Safflower’s press can currently process 1,000 acres of safflower per year, but they plan to scale up to 30,000 acres per year in the future.
