A new heart-healthy safflower variety is ready for Montana and Dakota growers next season just as contracted acres for the Montana-bred safflower varieties have doubled.

Montola 2004 is the new variety's name. It joins Montola 2000, 2001, 2003 and the industrial variety named Morlin in a suite of varieties that have special nutritional and industrial characteristics.

Neil Turnbull of Montola Growers Inc. in Culbertson says the company, which licensed U.S. rights to Montola 2004 from MSU, contracted about twice as much safflower acreage in 2002 as in 2001 and expects to increase contracted acres substantially again next year.

"We're seeing a growing acceptance in the market for Montola safflowers and a growing understanding of their special properties," says Turnbull.

Montola 2004 is higher in monounsaturated fat than olive oil and lower in saturated fat than either canola or olive oil. It is especially good for products that require a long shelf life, says Jerry Bergman, the safflower breeder at the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station's Eastern Agricultural Research Center in Sidney who developed the Montolas and Morlin. The Montolas also are well suited to the specialty birdseed market because of their white hull and long shelf life.

Montola Growers Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Sheridan Electric Company. In 1998, Montola Growers licensed the rights to the safflower varieties Montola 2000 and 2001 and Morlin. MGI gave up the foreign rights when it did not find a market. MSU then released the foreign rights to the varieties to Safflower Technologies International, a new company organized by Bergman.

"MSU's policy is that anything that we cannot pay for or license, we return to the inventor," said Rebecca Mahurin, director of the Technology Transfer at MSU.

Bergman says that Montola 2004 can be used as a food-oil and a base oil in pharmaceuticals, nutriceuticals and beauty care products. "Nutriceutical" is a cross of the words ''nutritional'' and ''pharmaceutical'' and refers to a food product used for a specific health purpose.

Planting dates for Montola 2004 are similar to those for spring wheat and barley. Harvest is usually from mid-September to mid-October. In general, safflower needs about six inches of stored soil moisture to produce seed and about 120 frost-free days at elevations lower than 3,500 feet, says Bergman. Each additional inch of moisture produces about another 150-200 pounds of seed, he added.

U.S. growers wishing to obtain Montola or Morlin safflower seed should contact Montola Growers Inc. at (406) 787-6616 or toll-free at (877) 666-8652. For international use, call Safflower Technologies International at (406) 433-1847.

Safflower growers also may benefit from new provisions in the Farm Bill that open up safflower to coverage for loan deficiency payments.