mn-press-releases MINNESOTA AG NEWS USDA, NASS MN Dept of Agriculture MINNESOTA FIELD OFFICE PO Box 7068, St. Paul, MN 55107 Douglas Hartwig, Director Phone: (651) 296-2230 Homepage: http://www.nass.usda.gov/mn/ E-mail: nass-mn@nass.usda.gov --------------------------------------------------------------------------- CROP PRODUCTION Released: August 12, 2008 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- MINNESOTA CORN AND SOYBEAN PRODUCTIONS BOTH UP CORN production for Minnesota is forecast at 1.20 billion bushels. If realized, this will be a record high, breaking the previous record set in 2005 and 5 percent above last year’s level according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Minnesota Field Office. The August 1 yield is forecast at 165 bushels per acre, up 19 bushels from last year’s yield of 146 bushels per acre. Corn for grain harvested is estimated at 7.25 million acres, down 7 percent from last year. SOYBEAN production is forecast at 278 million bushels, up 10 percent from last year’s production. Based on August 1 conditions, the yield is forecast at 40 bushels per acre, 1 bushel below 2007’s yield. The SPRING WHEAT crop is estimated at 87.5 million bushels, up 13 percent from last year. Yield is estimated at 50 bushels per acre, unchanged from the July forecast, and up 3 bushels per acre from last year. BARLEY production is forecast at 6.82 million bushels, up 11 percent from 2007. Yield is forecast at 62 bushels per acre, down 3 bushels from July, and up 6 bushels from last year. OAT production is estimated at 11.1 million bushels, up 2 percent from last year. Yield is forecast at 65 bushels per acre, down 3 bushels from July and up 5 bushels from last year. The SUGARBEET crop is estimated at 9.66 million tons, down 16 percent from 2007’s production level. Yield is estimated at 22.3 tons per acre, down 1.5 tons per acre from last year’s 23.8 tons per acre. This year’s DRY BEAN production is estimated at 2.52 million hundredweight, down 90 thousand hundredweight from last year. Yield is forecast at 1,800 pounds per acre, unchanged from last year. Minnesota’s ALFALFA HAY production is estimated at 3.96 million tons, up 11 percent from 2007. Yield is forecast at 3.6 tons per acre, up 0.5 tons per acre from last year. U.S. HIGHLIGHTS CORN production is forecast at 12.3 billion bushels, down 6 percent from last year but 17 percent above 2006. Based on conditions as of August 1, yields are expected to average 155.0 bushels per acre, up 3.9 bushels from last year. If realized, this yield would be the second highest on record, behind 2004. Production would be the second highest on record, behind last year when producers harvested the most acres of corn for grain since 1933. SOYBEAN production is forecast at 2.97 billion bushels, up 15 percent from last year but down 7 percent from the record high production of 2006. If realized, this will be the fourth largest production on record. Based on August 1 conditions, yields are expected to average 40.5 bushels per acre, down 0.7 bushel from 2007. SPRING WHEAT production is forecast at 501 million bushels, down 1 percent from last month but up 5 percent from 2007. Area harvested for grain totals 13.8 million acres, unchanged from last month but up 6 percent from last year. MINNESOTA & U.S. HARVESTED ACRES, YIELD, AND PRODUCTION 2007 2008 HARVESTED HARVESTED 2007 2008 2007 2008 COMMODITY ACRES ACRES YIELD YIELD PRODUCTION PRODUCTION (000) (000) (000) (000) MINNESOTA CORN (Bu) 7,800 7,250 146.0 165.0 1,138,800 1,196,250 SOYBEANS (Bu) 6,150 6,950 41.0 40.0 252,150 278,000 SPRING WHEAT (Bu) 1,650 1,750 47.0 50.0 77,550 87,500 BARLEY (Bu) 110 110 56.0 62.0 6,160 6,820 OATS (Bu) 180 170 60.0 65.0 10,800 11,050 SUGARBEETS (Ton) 481 433 23.8 22.3 11,448 9,656 DRY BEANS 1/ 145 140 1,800 1,800 2,610 2,520 ALFALFA HAY (Ton) 1,150 1,100 3.10 3.60 3,565 3,960 OTHER HAY (Ton) 730 600 1.50 1.80 1,095 1,080 UNITED STATES CORN (Bu) 86,542 79,290 151.1 155.0 13,073,893 12,287,875 SOYBEANS (Bu) 62,820 73,341 41.2 40.5 2,585,207 2,972,577 SPRING WHEAT (Bu) 12,947 13,751 37.0 36.4 479,047 500,988 BARLEY (Bu) 3,508 3,640 60.4 59.9 211,825 217,976 OATS (Bu) 1,505 1,443 60.9 62.3 91,599 89,897 SUGARBEETS (Ton) 1,247 1,052 25.6 24.1 31,912 25,319 DRY BEANS 1/ 1,479 1,354 1,716 1,786 25,371 24,172 ALFALFA HAY (Ton) 21,670 20,778 3.35 3.41 72,575 70,944 OTHER HAY (Ton) 39,995 39,661 1.95 1.94 77,729 77,011 1/ Yield in lb: production in cwt.