USDA forecasting record yields for N.C. peanuts, soybeans

by | Nov 14, 2012

Photo of soybeans

North Carolina soybean yields are forecast to set a new record.

North Carolina’s peanut and soybean crops are forecast to have record-setting yields this year, according to the USDA Crop Production Report for November.

The yield for peanuts is forecast to be 3,800 pounds per acre, which would be 100 pounds higher than the previous record, set in 2009. Production is forecast to total 402.8 million pounds, up 38 percent from last year.

Soybean yields are expected to be 36 bushels per acre, 2 bushels better than 2009’s record. Production is estimated at 55.4 million bushels, a 34 percent increase over last year.

Kent Messick, field services chief with the NCDA&CS Agronomic Services Division, said weather was a clear factor in the successful yields. “It was definitely more cooperative than in 2011,” he said. “Better temperatures, less extreme heat, and more plentiful and widespread rainfall on those two crops in particular.”

For more details about these and other crops in USDA’s North Carolina report, click here.