Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler sits down each week with Southern Farm Network’s Rhonda Garrison to discuss “Today’s Topic.”
The November Crop Report from USDA showed that North Carolina cotton yields have continued to decline in the wake of Hurricane Irene. The latest yield forecast is 660 pounds per acre, which is down 21 percent from last year’s 838 pounds per acre. Yield forecasts for cotton have decreased each month since Irene struck North Carolina in late August.
Commissioner Troxler says there had been a lot of optimism about cotton among N.C. farmers this year. Strong cotton prices had prompted a resurgence in plantings, with farmers projected to harvest up to 800,000 acres. Irene dealt cotton farmers a blow.
Not all of the news in the crop report was bad, however. Peanut yields are forecast to be 3,500 pounds per acre, an increase of 800 pounds from last year. And soybean yields are expected to be 31 bushels per acre, 5 bushels more than a year ago.
Click below to listen to Commissioner Troxler and Rhonda talk about the November Crop Report.
[Audio:http://info.ncagr.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Troxler_11-29.mp3 |titles=Today’s Topic for Nov. 29]
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