Kate Fuller

Montana’s economic performance in 2020 will go down as the worst in its post war history, but economists say a flood of federal relief dollars have largely buoyed incomes and the state’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana held its annual economic outlook seminar this week and told the story of Montana’s industries.

Agricultural economists project Montana’s farmers and ranchers will receive more than $535 million in government payments by the end of this year. That’s a 65 percent jump over 2019.

2019 was a weird year for agricultural production in Montana. That’s according to one of the presenters at the upcoming Agricultural Economics Outlook…