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: November 10, 2008 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- MN CORN PRODUCTION UP SLIGHTLY FROM LAST MONTH The November 1 CORN for grain production is forecast at 1.22 billion bushels, up slightly from the October 1 forecast, and up 7 percent from 2007, according to the USDA, NASS, Minnesota Field Office. Based on conditions as of November 1, yield is forecast at 168 bushels per acre, up 22 bushels from 2007. If realized, production would be the largest on record. The current record production was set in 2005. SOYBEAN production for Minnesota is forecast at 269 million bushels, down 3 percent from the October 1 forecast but up slightly from 2007. Based on conditions as of November 1, the yield is forecast at 39.0 bushels per acre, down 1 bushel from October and down 3.5 bushels from last year. SUGARBEET production is forecast at 10.8 million tons, down slightly from last month and down 6 percent from last year. The average yield, estimated at 25.1 tons per acre is up 0.1 tons per acre from last month, and up 1.3 tons per acre from last year. If realized, this would be the highest sugarbeet yield record. The current record yield is 24.9 tons, set in 2006. FALL POTATO production is forecast at 18.9 million cwt, down 9 percent from last year. Yield is forecast at 420 cwt per acre, down 20 cwt from 2007. U.S. HIGHLIGHTS CORN production is forecast at 12.0 billion bushels, down slightly from the October forecast and 8 percent below 2007. Based on conditions as of November 1, yields are expected to average 153.8 bushels per acre, down 0.1 bushel from October but 2.7 bushels above last year. If realized, this will be the second highest yield on record, behind 2004, and production will be the second largest, behind last year. Forecasted yields are higher than last year across the northern half of the Great Plains and northern and central Corn Belt. Yield prospects are lower than last year in the southern half of the Great Plains and Delta. SOYBEAN production is forecast at 2.92 billion bushels, down less than 1 percent from the October forecast but up 9 percent from last year. If realized, this will be the fourth largest production on record. Based on November 1 conditions, yields are expected to average 39.3 bushels per acre, down 0.2 bushel from October 1 and down 2.4 bushels from 2007. Compared with October 1, yields are forecast lower or unchanged across the Corn Belt and Great Plains, with the exception of Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri. Yields increased from the October 1 forecast in Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, New York, and Virginia. Area for harvest in the U.S. is forecast at 74.4 million acres, unchanged from October 1 but up 16 percent from 2007. SUGARBEET Production is forecast at 28.2 million tons, 1 percent above the October forecast but 12 percent below 2007's production of 31.9 million tons. Growers expect to harvest 1.05 million acres, slightly below the October forecast and the lowest acreage since 1960. The yield is forecast at 26.8 tons per acre, slightly above the October forecast and up 1.2 tons from the previous year. If realized, this will be the highest yield on record. Production of FALL POTATOES for 2008 is forecast at 373 million cwt, down 8 percent from 2007. Area harvested, at 918,200 acres, is virtually unchanged from the July estimate but 8 percent lower than last year. The average yield, forecast at 407 cwt per acre, is down 2 cwt from last year's record high yield and, if realized, will be the second highest yield on record. MINNESOTA & U.S. HARVESTED ACRES, YIELD AND PRODUCTION 2007 2008 HARVESTED HARVESTED 2007 2008 ACRES ACRES 2007 2008 PRODUCTION PRODUCTION COMMODITY (000) (000) YIELD YIELD (000) (000) MINNESOTA CORN (Bu) 7,800 7,250 146.0 168.0 1,138,800 1,218,000 SOYBEANS (Bu) 6,290 6,900 42.5 39.0 267,325 269,100 SUGARBEETS (Ton) 481 430 23.8 25.1 11,448 10,793 FALL POTATOES (Cwt) 47 45 440 420 20,680 18,900 UNITED STATES CORN (Bu) 86,542 78,177 151.1 153.8 13,073,893 12,019,894 SOYBEANS (Bu) 64,141 74,374 41.7 39.3 2,675,822 2,920,589 SUGARBEETS (Ton) 1,247 1,052 25.6 26.8 31,912 28,179 FALL POTATOES (Cwt) 997 918 409 407 407,517 373,496 This is the last production forecast of the season for these commodities. Final acreage and production figures will be released on January 9, 2009 based on data collected from the end-of-year survey.