Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler sits down each week with Southern Farm Network’s Rhonda Garrison to discuss “Today’s Topic.”
The USDA’s August crop production report for North Carolina came out recently, and it shows that crops are feeling the effects of a wet summer.
Commissioner Troxler tells Rhonda that the one exception is corn. The corn yield is forecast to be 132 bushels per acre, which is 15 bushels more than last year. And if that projected yield holds up, it’ll tie a record set in 2006. Total production of corn is forecast to be 116 million bushels, which is 21 percent more than a year ago.
The wheat harvest is now forecast at 52 million bushels, a 22 percent increase from last year. But the reason for the increase is that farmers harvested 930,000 acres this year, which is 180,000 more than in 2012. The wheat yield is 56 bushels an acre, which is 1 bushel less than last year. And Commissioner Troxler says the quality of the wheat crop has suffered because of the wet summer.
Wet is the word that sums up the rest of the crop report:
- The cotton yield is forecast at 775 pounds per acre. That’s a 239-pound decrease from last year’s record. And total cotton production is expected to be 45 percent lower than last year.
- Peanut yields are forecast at 3,600 pounds per acre, down 500 pounds from last year’s record. Total production is expected to be 284 million pounds, down 35 percent from 2012.
- Soybean yields also are forecast to be lower this year, 30 bushels per acre compared with a record 39 bushels per acre last year.
- And flue-cured tobacco is forecast to yield 2,000 pounds per acre this year. That’s down 300 pounds from last year. Total production of flue-cured tobacco is forecast at 340 million pounds, which is 10 percent less than last year, even though there are 6,000 more acres of tobacco planted this year.
Click on the audio player below to listen to Commissioner Troxler and Rhonda talk about the latest crop forecast.
[Audio:http://info.ncagr.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Troxler_8-20.mp3|titles=Today’s Topic for Aug. 20]
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