2007 Camelina Production
For immediate release: April 16, 2009 For more information contact: John Hilton or Steve Anderson at 1-800-835-2612.
USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service field office in Helena, Montana once again presents camelina estimates for the state of Montana. Since this is the second year of data collection comparisons are possible to 2007. The intent of this report is to help provide insights into the 2008 camelina crop and provide a basis upon which future historical comparisons can be made.
Crop Development: The field office collected crop development data for five different stages: planted, emerged, blooming, turning and harvested. Table 1 outlines the general beginning and end of each stage. It should be noted that these are statewide averages and could be different due to specific local conditions.
Table 1:  Montana’s Camelina Crop Development, 2008. Stage Beginning End Planted Early April Mid May Emerged Early April Mid June Blooming Mid May Early July Turning Mid June Mid August Harvested Mid July Late September
Acreage: For the 2008 crop year, there were 12,200 acres of camelina planted in Montana of which 9,100 acres were harvested as shown in Table 2. This compares with 22,500 acres planted in 2007 and 20,400 acres harvested in 2007. The largest county planting camelina was Fergus at 1,300 acres followed by Pondera and Teton counties at 1,200 acres. Even though camelina is a dry land crop, a small percentage of Montana's planted acreage was irrigated.
Table 2:  Montana’s County Level Acreage and Production for Camelina, 2007-2008. County and District 2007 2008 Planted Acres Harvested Acres Yield Lbs/Ac Production Pounds Planted Acres Harvested Acres Yield Lbs/Ac Production Pounds Flathead 500 500 920 460,000 - - - - Other 100 - - - 200 200 540 108,000 Northwest 600 500 920 460,000 200 200 540 108,000 Chouteau 2,700 2,500 595 1,488,000 700 700 473 331,100 Hill 800 600 555 333,000 - - - - Liberty 500 500 544 272,000 - - - - Pondera 2,100 1,900 662 1,257,000 1,200 1,200 1,581 1,897,200 Teton 700 600 543 326,000 1,200 700 768 537,600 Other 1,500 1,500 500 750,000 1,700 1,500 301 451,100 North Central 8,300 7,600 582 4,426,000 4,800 4,100 785 3,217,000 McCone 1,500 1,500 614 921,000 - - - - Valley 4,300 4,300 716 3,077,000 - - - - Other 2,500 1,500 627 940,000 1,800 1,600 238 381,500 Northeast 8,300 7,300 676 4,938,000 1,800 1,600 238 381,500 Fergus 1,200 1,200 207 248,000 1,300 400 443 177,200 Other 800 800 475 380,000 2,200 1,500 496 744,100 Central 2,000 2,000 314 628,000 3,500 1,900 485 921,300 Southwest 600 400 550 220,000 500 500 508 254,200 Yellowstone 900 900 806 725,000 - - - - Other 600 500 500 250,000 1,000 400 394 157,500 South Central 1,500 1,400 696 975,000 1,000 400 394 157,500 Southeast 1,200 1,200 458 550,000 400 400 355 142,000 Montana 22,500 20,400 598 12,197,000 12,200 9,100 569 5,181,500
Production: Statewide production totaled 5,181,500 pounds for 2008 with a state yield of 569 pounds/acre. This is a decrease from last year when production was 12,197,000 pounds and the yield was 598 pounds/acre. Yield reports ranged from about 10 to 2,000 pounds/acre with 60% of the reported production yielding between 400 to 1,000 pounds/acre. No conclusions can be drawn about the effects of irrigation on production since the number of acres under irrigation was limited.
Data were collected from October 15 through the end of December 2008, during which time 6,400 operators responded to the surveys. Data for Camelina were collected in conjunction with small grains, hay, pulse crops oilseeds and livestock data. Crop progress data came from the weekly Crop Weather survey that ran from April through October, 2008. The primary target of the crop progress survey is county extension agents and those individuals that have firsthand knowledge of their respective counties crop conditions.
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