June 1 Crop Production Forecast

Released: June 10, 2009 For more information contact: Carmen Pennington or Steve Anderson at 1-800-835-2612.

Based on June 1 conditions, Montana winter wheat producers are expecting a yield of 39 bushels per acre, unchanged from the May 1 forecast and the same as last year's final yield. If realized, the total production would be 93.6 million bushels, 1 percent below last year's 94.4 million bushels. The drop in production is a result of a decrease in harvested acreage from 2.42 million acres in 2008 to 2.40 million acres in 2009. For the week ending June 7, Montana's winter wheat crop condition was rated 2 percent very poor, 5 percent poor, 27 percent fair, 51 percent good, and 15 percent excellent, significantly above the 2008 rating of 2 percent very poor, 13 percent poor, 48 percent fair, 30 percent good, and 7 percent excellent. Cool temperatures during most of May has hindered winter wheat crop growth and development. Forty-four percent of the crop is in the boot stage compared to 35 percent last year and the five-year average of 67 percent. Winter wheat production is forecast at 1.49 billion bushels, down less than 1 percent from the May 1 forecast and 20 percent below 2008. Expected area for harvest as grain or seed totals 34.0 million acres, unchanged from May 1. Based on June 1 conditions, the U.S. yield is forecast at 43.9 bushels per acre, down 0.3 bushel from last month and 3.3 bushels less than last year. Hard Red winter wheat production is down less than 1 percent from a month ago to 868 million bushels. Soft Red production is down 2 percent from last month and now totals 415 million bushels. White production totals 209 million bushels, up slightly from last month. Of the White production total, 21.1 million bushels are Hard White and 188 million bushels are Soft White.

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