Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler sits down each week with Southern Farm Network’s Rhonda Garrison to discuss “Today’s Topic.”
USDA’s August Crop Report reflects the hot, dry summer in North Carolina. Yields for corn, soybeans, cotton and tobacco all are feeling the effects of the drought.
Corn has been hit particularly hard, with the current yield forecast of 81 bushels an acre falling far below the 10-year average of 106 bushels an acre.
Cotton and tobacco are more drought-tolerant, and the yields for those crops could improve with recent rains that have fallen across the state, Troxler says.
The lone bright spot on the yield front is the peanut crop. Projected yields for peanuts are 3,300 pounds an acre, which is 500 pounds better than a year ago.
Click below to listen to Commissioner Troxler and Rhonda discuss the latest crop production estimates. You can read the report here.
[Audio:http://info.ncagr.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Troxler_8-16.mp3 |titles=Today’s Topic for Aug. 16]
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