United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service Michigan Field Office Cooperating with Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Vol. 34 No. 2 Agriculture Across Michigan February 2013 USDA to Take the Economic Pulse of U.S. Agriculture The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will spend the next several months gathering production practices information from farmers and ranchers across the nation through the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS). The results of this survey will serve as a baseline for numerous federal policies and programs that affect U.S. farms and farm families. "It is hard to overestimate the impact the responses to ARMS can have since this survey is the primary tool for federal, state and local government representatives and all major farm sector stakeholders to gauge the financial condition of American farms and ranches," said Jay Johnson, director of the NASS Michigan Field Office. "By responding, Michigan farmers can ensure that they are accurately represented when it comes to decision-making." NASS conducts ARMS jointly with USDA's Economic Research Service. In an effort to obtain the most accurate data, the federal agencies will reach out to nearly 33,000 producers nationwide, including approximately 500 in Michigan, between January and March. The survey asks producers to provide data on their operating expenditures, production costs and household characteristics. The survey also asks Michigan soybean growers to provide information on their drying practices, including cost and fuel used to dry the grain. "As you may know, NASS is also currently conducting the mandatory Census of Agriculture, which occurs every five years," explained Johnson. "To make it easier on these farmers, responding to ARMS fulfills the growers' 2012 Census of Agriculture obligations." As with all NASS surveys, information provided by respondents is confidential by law. NASS safeguards the confidentiality of all responses, ensuring no individual respondent or operation can be identified. The economic data gathered in ARMS will be published in the annual Farm Production Expenditures report on August 2, 2013. All NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov. For more information on NASS surveys and reports, please call the Michigan Field Office at (800) 453-7501. January Agricultural Prices Prices received by Michigan farmers for the full month of December 2012 and mid-month prices as of January 15, 2013 are listed in the table below. Some Michigan highlights were: January corn at $6.95 per bushel, is up $0.02 from December and up $0.98 from last year; January soybeans at $13.70 per bushel, is down $0.40 from last month but up $2.00 from last year; January milk at $20.30 per cwt, is down $1.20 from last month, but up $0.50 from last year. Prices received by farmers, January 2013 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ : Michigan : United States :----------------------------------------------- Commodity : Jan : Dec : Jan : Jan : Dec : Jan :2012 1/:2012 1/:2013 2/:2012 1/:2012 1/: 2013 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ : Dollars : Beans, dry edible....Cwt: 49.70 39.30 (D) 42.10 38.00 35.10 Corn..................Bu: 5.97 6.93 6.95 6.07 6.87 6.98 Hay, all.............Ton:109.00 215.00 222.00 172.00 192.00 191.00 Oats..................Bu: 4.11 4.14 (D) 3.56 3.94 3.93 Potatoes.............Cwt: 12.30 11.70 12.00 9.23 7.56 7.33 Soybeans..............Bu: 11.70 14.10 13.70 11.90 14.30 14.10 Wheat, winter.........Bu: 6.61 7.80 7.55 6.57 8.15 8.08 ........................: Milk, all............Cwt: 19.80 21.50 20.30 19.00 20.90 20.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1/ Entire month weighted average price. 2/ Mid-month price. D/ Withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations. 2013 Release Schedule for 2012 County Estimates Commodity Anticipated Release Date Oats December 13, 2012 Winter Wheat December 13, 2012 Corn for Grain February 21, 2013 Soybeans February 21, 2013 Dry Edible Beans April 25, 2013 Sugar Beets July 18, 2013 Cattle & Calves May 8, 2013 Cash Rents September 6, 2013 Michigan Cattle Inventory All cattle and calves in Michigan as of January 1, 2013 were 1,120 thousand head, an increase of 1 percent from last year, according to Jay Johnson, director of the USDA, NASS, Michigan Field Office. Michigan highlights from the January 1 report follow: * Beef cow numbers increased 4 percent to 113,000. Beef replacement heifers increased 4 percent to 28,000 head. * Milk cows increased 2 percent to 377,000 head. Heifers for milk cow replacement decreased 1 percent to 157,000 head. * The 2012 calf crop was 385,000 head, down 1 percent from 2011. Cattle inventory, January 1, 2012-13 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- : Michigan : United States :--------------------------------------- Class : 2012 : 2013 : 2012 : 2013 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1,000 head : All cattle and calves : 1,110 1,120 90,769 89,300 Cows : 480 490 39,387 38,515 Beef : 109 113 30,158 29,295 Milk : 371 377 9,230 9,220 Replacement heifers : 230 232 19,388 19,130 Beef : 27 28 5,262 5,361 Milk : 158 157 4,622 4,551 Other : 45 47 9,454 9,218 Steers 500 pounds and over : 173 174 15,833 15,813 Bulls 500 pounds and over : 17 14 2,096 2,056 Calves under 500 pounds : 210 210 14,115 13,787 Cattle on feed : 150 155 14,121 13,352 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Michigan Vegetable Summary 2012 Michigan produced 7.92 million hundredweight (cwt) of fresh market vegetables in 2012, down 2 percent from 2011. This included the dual purpose crops of asparagus, celery, bell peppers, pumpkins and squash. The value of fresh market vegetables, at the farm level, was $176 million, up 3 percent from the revised 2011 total. "Despite the decrease in production from 2011, Michigan maintained it's ranking as the eighth largest State in the value of fresh market vegetables for 2012." Fresh market vegetable and melon production in the U.S. for the 24 selected crops estimated in 2012 totaled 438 million hundredweight, up 1 percent from last year. Harvested area covered 1.68 million acres, up 1 percent from 2011. Value of the total U.S. 2012 crop is estimated at 10.1 billion dollars, down 6 percent from a year ago. The three largest crops, in terms of production, are onions, head lettuce, and watermelons, which combined to account for 36 percent of the total production. Onions, tomatoes, and sweet corn claim the highest values, accounting for 26 percent of the total value when combined. U.S. processing production of eight selected vegetables estimated in 2012 totaled 18.3 million tons, up 7 percent from last year. Area harvested is estimated at 1.14 million acres, up 8 percent from a year ago. Processing crop value is estimated at 2.00 billion dollars, 13 percent above 2011. The three largest crops, in terms of production, are tomatoes, sweet corn, and snap beans, which combine to account for 92 percent of the total. The top three crops in terms of value are tomatoes, sweet corn, and snap beans. These three processing vegetables account for 79 percent of the total value when combined. Vegetables: Michigan and U.S., 2011-2012 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ : Michigan : United States :----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Item : Harvested : Production : Harvested : Production :----------------------------------------------------------------------------- : 2011 : 2012 : 2011 : 2012 : 2011 : 2012 : 2011 : 2012 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ : ---- Acres ---- --- 1,000 cwt -- ----- Acres ---- ------ 1,000 cwt ----- : Fresh market : Asparagus 1/ : 9,800 9,100 216 191 27,300 25,300 840 761 Beans, snap : 2,900 2,600 160 122 94,700 93,300 5,367 5,402 Cabbage : 3,300 2,800 759 700 61,400 61,100 21,159 21,271 Carrots : 1,800 1,500 468 420 71,500 70,200 21,862 23,233 Celery 1/ : 1,800 2,000 882 1,130 28,200 29,000 19,362 19,760 Corn, sweet : 9,500 9,100 893 946 243,050 243,650 28,684 31,380 Cucumbers : 3,700 3,600 703 612 41,100 45,700 7,395 9,984 Onions 2/ : 3,400 2,800 816 644 99,230 103,750 54,800 54,000 Peppers, bell 1/: 1,300 1,500 351 390 52,300 55,500 17,928 18,603 Pumpkins 1/ : 6,800 6,300 986 945 46,900 47,800 10,705 12,364 Squash 1/ : 6,400 5,900 1,408 1,416 44,600 43,600 7,248 7,497 Tomatoes : 2,000 2,000 440 400 94,210 94,700 28,231 27,590 : : ---- Acres ---- ----- Tons ----- ----- Acres ---- -------- Tons -------- Processing : Beans, snap : 15,600 17,800 52,560 71,200 163,950 169,555 680,910 733,430 Carrots 3/ : 12,190 12,410 338,590 322,150 Cucumbers : 31,600 28,700 176,960 154,980 82,630 85,960 482,030 494,060 Tomatoes : 3,500 3,500 105,000 122,500 267,800 276,300 12,396,150 13,178,750 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1/ Dual purpose crops. Processing included in fresh market. 2/ Summer storage. 3/ Michigan data included in Other States to avoid disclosure of individual operations. Sheep and Goat Inventory All sheep and lamb inventory in Michigan on January 1, 2013, was estimated at 82,000 head, an increase of 4 percent from 2012. The breeding sheep inventory, at 59,000 head, was up 1,000 head from last year. Market sheep and lambs totaled 23,000 head, an increase of 2,000 from last year. The 2012 Michigan lamb crop was 65,000 head, up 1,000 from the previous year. The number of sheep and lambs shorn in Michigan, 70,000 head, was up 4,000 from the previous year. Michigan shorn wool production in 2012 was 390,000 pounds, down 5 percent from 2011. The average price paid for wool in Michigan was $0.68 per pound, an increase of 8 cents from the previous year. The total value of wool was $265,000, 8 percent above the 2011 value. As of January 1, there were 9,600 milk goats in Michigan, down from 10,000 a year earlier. The Michigan meat and other goat inventory was 18,500 head, 500 above the January 1, 2012, count. Sheep inventory, January 1, 2012-13 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Michigan : United States :--------------------------------------- Class : 2012 : 2013 : 2012 : 2013 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1,000 head : All sheep and lambs : 79 82 5,365 5,335 Breeding sheep and lambs : 58 59 3,995 3,975 Ewes : 43 43 3,165 3,140 Rams : 3 3 170 175 Replacement lambs : 12 13 660 660 Total market sheep and lambs : 21 23 1,370 1,360 : Previous year's lamb crop : 64 65 3,510 3,455 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Goat inventory, January 1, 2012-13 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Michigan : United States :--------------------------------------- Class : 2012 : 2013 : 2012 : 2013 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- : 1,000 head : Angora : 1/ 1/ 146 136 Milk : 10.0 9.6 360 360 Meat and other : 18.0 18.5 2,356 2,315 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Not published to avoid disclosure of individual operations. December Milk Production Dairy herds in Michigan produced 762 million pounds of milk during December, up 5.5 percent from a year ago. The daily rate per cow was 65.2 pounds, up 2.3 pounds from December 2011. The dairy herd was estimated at 377,000 head for December, up 7,000 from a year earlier. The average price of milk sold in December by Michigan dairy producers was $21.50 per cwt., $0.90 above the price in December 2011. Michigan dairy summary, December 2012 --------------------------------------------------------- Item : Unit : 2010 : 2011 : 2012 --------------------------------------------------------- Cows : 1,000 Hd: 361 370 377 Milk per cow : Lb/day : 62.4 62.9 65.2 Production : Mil lbs : 699 722 762 Milk price, all : Dol/cwt : 17.60 20.60 21.50 Fat test : Pct : 3.79 3.76 3.77 Protein 1/ : Pct : 3.18 3.17 3.15 --------------------------------------------------------- 1/ FMO 33 Chickens and Eggs All layers in Michigan totaled 12.2 million during December, up 13 percent from a year ago. Egg production totaled 310 million eggs, up 14 percent from last year. The rate of lay during December was 2,539 eggs per 100 layers. On January 1 in the East North Central Region, which includes Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin, there were 7.2 million egg-type eggs in incubators, up 10 percent from a year earlier. In the same region, there were 12.1 million broiler-type eggs in incubators, up 2 percent from the previous year. There were 22 million turkey poults hatched in the U.S. in December. Egg and hatchery production, December 2012 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- : : : : Percent Item : Unit : 2011 : 2012 : Change ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michigan : : All layers : Thou : 10,796 12,209 13 Eggs per hundred layers : Num : 2,519 2,539 1 Eggs produced : Mil : 272 310 14 East North Central Region : : Eggs in incubators, Jan 1 : : Egg-type : Thou : 6,517 7,185 10 Broiler type : Thou : 11,776 12,066 2 U.S. : : All Layers : Thou : 338,158 344,097 2 Eggs per hundred layers : Num : 2,346 2,346 0 Eggs produced : Mil : 7,932 8,073 2 Turkey Eggs in incubators, Jan 1 : Thou : 28,308 28,144 -1 Turkey Poults hatched, Dec : Thou : 24,812 22,020 -11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- February Potato Stocks Fall potato stocks in Michigan on February 1, 2013, were estimated at 5.7 million hundredweight (cwt). February's stocks represent 36 percent of the total production, up 21 percent from last year's 4.7 million cwt. Stocks by type were 86 percent round white and 14 percent russet. Stocks include potatoes stored by both processors and growers. Michigan disappearance of this year's crop, from harvest to February 1, 2013, totaled 10.225 million cwt. Disappearance from last year's crop during the comparable time period was 10.48 million cwt. Disappearance includes sales, shrink, and waste. Thank You to our Data Providers The USDA, NASS, Michigan Field Office and enumerator staff are pleased to provide you and the Michigan agricultural industry with current, reliable information as summarized in the following articles. This service is possible because you and other respondents provided us with timely survey responses. Thank you!