USDA-NASS-NY Dec 08 Crop & Livestock Report

E-mail: nass-ny@nass.usda.gov
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NEW YORK CROP AND LIVESTOCK REPORT
December 2008

Monthly
No. 973-12-08

NEW YORK FALL POTATO PRODUCTION UP

New York production of fall potatoes for 2008 is estimated at 5.70 million hundredweight (cwt.), up 9 percent from a year ago.

U.S. production of fall potatoes for 2008 is forecast at 374 million cwt., up slightly from the November forecast but down 8 percent from 2007. Area harvested, at 921,200 acres, is virtually unchanged from the November forecast but 8 percent lower than last year. The average yield, forecast at 406 cwt. per acre, is down 1 cwt. from November’s forecast and down 3 cwt from last year’s record high yield.

Idaho's yield is forecast at 378 cwt. per acre. If realized, this will be the second highest yield on record, 8 cwt. below the record yield set in 2006. Production in Idaho is down from last year due to a 13 percent decrease in harvested acres. In eastern Washington, potatoes were planted on time, but growth was delayed due to cool, wet weather in the early summer, which also delayed planting in the western part of the State. Potato size was smaller than last year, but quality was good. In Colorado, the growing season was favorable for the San Luis Valley, however, severe hail storms in August damaged plants just before vine killing. As a result, potato sizes were variable. Despite a slow start for the potato crop in Oregon, most growers reported normal to slightly below normal yields. In California, favorable weather conditions resulted in excellent crop quality and yields.

In North Dakota, crop condition was rated fair to good throughout the growing season. Wisconsin growers reported a smaller crop with good quality potatoes. In Michigan, there were low disease and insect pressures across the State and harvest was mostly complete by early November.

In Maine, a wet growing season resulted in below average potato yields. Dry weather in September promoted excellent harvest and storage conditions. Massachusetts potato farmers battled wet conditions during the season, while growing conditions were excellent in Rhode Island.

Fall Potato Acreage, Yield and Production,
New York and United States, 2006-2008

Crop	Acres for harvest			Yield per acre			Production
Crop	2006	2007	2008	2006	2007	2008	2006	2007	2008
	1,000 acres			Cwt.			1,000 cwt.

New York	19.0	18.3	17.8	300	285	320	5,700	5,216	5,696

United States
Total Fall States	983.0	996.8	921.2	406	409	406	398,921	407,517	374,360

NEW YORK DRY BEAN PRODUCTION UP

Dry bean production in New York for the 2008 crop totaled 316,000 hundredweight (cwt), up 41 percent from last year’s production, according to Stephen Ropel, Director of USDA=s National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York office. Harvested acreage, at 16,800 acres was up 2 percent from last year. Yields averaged 1,880 pounds per acre, a new record replacing the 1,860 yield set in 2003, compared with 1,360 pounds per acre in 2007.

Light red kidney bean production in the state is estimated at 137,000 cwt. compared with 86,000 cwt. in 2007. Production came from 7,000 acres harvested. Light red kidney beans accounted for 43 percent of the total dry bean production in New York. Dark red kidney bean production is estimated at 38,000 cwt. compared with 20,000 cwt. in 2007. Black turtle bean production is set at 130,000 cwt., up 29 percent from the 101,000 cwt. produced a year earlier. Production of all other varieties totaled 11,000 cwt, down 35 percent from a year ago.

U.S. dry edible bean production is forecast at 25.7 million cwt. for 2008, up 2 percent from the October forecast and up 1 percent from 2007. Planted area is forecast at 1.50 million acres, up slightly from the October forecast but down 2 percent from 2007. Harvested area is forecast at 1.45 million acres, 2 percent above the October forecast but 2 percent below the previous year's harvested acreage. The average U.S. yield is forecast at 1,775 pounds per acre, an increase of 1 pound from October's forecast and 59 pounds above the 2007 yield.

Dry Bean Production by Class, New York and United States, 2006-2008

Class	New York			United States
	2006	2007	2008	2006		2007		2008
	Thousand bags 1/			Thousand bags 1/

Light Red Kidney	88	86	137	742	804		1,008
Dark Red Kidney	15	20	38	823	661		855
Black	126	101	130	2,661	2,773		2,935
All Other	10	17	11	20,021	21,133		20,903

TOTAL	239	224	316	24,247	25,371		25,701

1/ 100 lb. bag (cleaned basis).

U.S. HIRED WORKERS DOWN 3 PERCENT
WAGE RATES UP 3 PERCENT FROM A YEAR AGO

There were 1,117,000 hired workers on the Nation’s farms and ranches during the week of October 12-18, 2008, down 3 percent from a year ago. Of these hired workers, 801,000 workers were hired directly by farm operators. Agricultural service employees on farms and ranches made up the remaining 316,000 workers.

Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $10.70 per hour during the October 2008 reference week, up 32 cents from a year earlier. Field workers received an average of $10.05 per hour, up 43 cents from last October, while livestock workers earned $10.19 per hour compared with $10.02 a year earlier. The field and livestock worker combined wage rate, at $10.08 per hour, was up 35 cents from last year.

Hired Workers on Farms and Wage Rates

Item	Northeast I 1/			United States
Item	Oct. 7-13, 2007	July 6-12, 2008	Oct. 12-18, 2008	Oct. 7-13, 2007	July 6-12, 2008			Oct. 12-18, 2008
	Thousand workers

All hired workers	34	37	42	817		828	801
Worked 150 days or more	23	24	28	603		585	575
Worked less than 150 days	11	13	14	214		243	226

	Hours worked per worker

All hired workers	39.8	38.0	42.1	42.2		40.5	41.3

	Dollars per hour

Field workers	9.96	9.68	10.66	9.62		9.66	10.05
Livestock workers	9.22	9.89	10.08	10.02		9.98	10.19
Field and livestock workers	9.70	9.75	10.45	9.73		9.74	10.08
All hired workers	10.35	10.50	10.95	10.38		10.34	10.70

1/ New York and New England States (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT) are combined into Northeast 1 region. 2/ Revised.

NOVEMBER MILK PRICES UNCHANGED FROM OCTOBER

Prices received by New York producers for milk sold during November were unchanged from a month earlier. The price of corn, apples, wheat, and hay decreased. The price of eggs, and potatoes increased. Many previous month prices were revised due to more complete sales information.

Grain corn, at $3.77 per bushel, was down $1.45 from October but increased 30 cents from last year. Potatoes, at $16.80 per hundredweight, were up 10 cents from October and up $4.50 from last year at this time. Hay averaged $114.00 per ton, down $6.00 from October and down $3.00 from November 2007. Apples, at 38.1 cents per hundredweight, were up 4.1 cents from last year at this time. Wheat averaged $3.92 per bushel, down $1.32 from last month and $3.40 from last year.

Dairy farmers in the Empire State received an average of $17.80 per hundredweight of milk sold during November, unchanged from October but $4.70 less than November a year ago. Poultry producers received an average of 92.6 cents per dozen eggs sold, up 1.1 cents from October but 32.4 cents lower than last year.

The preliminary All Farm Products Index of Prices Received by Farmers in November, at 139 percent, based on 1990-92=100, decreased 12 points (7.9 percent) from October. The Crop Index is down 16 points (9.5 percent) and the Livestock Index decreased 2 points (1.6 percent). Producers received lower prices for soybeans, corn, lettuce, and hogs and higher prices for tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, and cantaloups. In addition to prices, the overall index is also affected by the seasonal change based on a 3-year average mix of commodities producers sell. Increased monthly marketings of milk, cattle, cotton, and cottonseed offset decreased marketings of soybeans, potatoes, peanuts, and lettuce

Prices Received by Farmers 1/

Commodity	Unit	New York			United States
Commodity	Unit	Nov 2007	Oct 2008	Nov 2008	Nov 2007	Oct 2008	Nov 2008
		Dollars			Dollars

Corn	bu.	3.47	5.22	3.77	3.44	4.37	3.94
Oats	bu.	--	3.08	--	2.63	3.25	2.37
Wheat	bu.	7.32	5.24	3.92	7.39	6.67	6.13
Barley	bu.	-	-	-	4.31	5.61	4.77
Soybeans	bu.	9.39	7.92	-	9.42	9.94	9.20
Hay, baled	ton	117.00	120.00	114.00	129.00	157.00	147.00
Potatoes	cwt.	12.30	16.70	16.80	6.47	7.38	8.87
Apples, fresh market 2/	cwt.	34.00	47.10	38.10	40.30	44.20	34.20

Milk, wholesale	cwt.	22.50	17.80	17.80	21.90	17.70	17.40
Milk cows 3/	head	-	1,900.00	-	-	1,920.00	-
Eggs, table market	doz.	1.250	0.915	0.926	1.190	0.889	0.894
Slaughter cows	cwt.	39.70	45.80	4/	43.90	48.30	44.70
Steers and heifers	cwt.	72.30	77.40	4/	96.00	93.00	93.00
All slaughter cattle	cwt.	42.60	48.90	4/	89.90	87.90	87.20
Calves	cwt.	92.70	54.00	4/	122.00	107.00	106.00
Hogs	cwt.	31.60	42.80	4/	37.90	48.60	41.40
Lambs	cwt.	89.10	91.00	4/	97.10	97.50	4/

Index (1990-92=100)
Prices received					141	151	139
Prices paid					165	187	183
Ratio prices received to prices paid					85	81	76

1/ Mid-month price for current month. Average price for entire month shown for previous periods. 2/ New York price is equivalent packinghouse door. 3/ Milk cow prices published quarterly. 4/ Price available next month.

Commercial Livestock Slaughter, October 1/

Species	Number Slaughtered				Total Live Weight
	New York		United States		New York		United States
	2007	2008	2007	2008	2007	2008	2007	2008
	1,000 head		1,000 head		Million pounds		Million pounds

Cattle	3.1	3.0	3,102.0	2,990.8	3.4	3.5	4,017.9	3,884.3
Calves	16.9	23.7	65.3	95.7	1.7	2.3	18.6	23.1
Hogs	3.1	3.0	10,656.6	10,750.7	.6	.6	2,870.7	2,893.9
Sheep & lambs	3.2	3.0	248.4	225.0	.3	.3	32.8	29.9

1/ Slaughter in federal and non-federal inspected plants. Excludes farm slaughter.

NOVEMBER MILK PRODUCTION

New York dairy herds produced 986 million pounds of milk during November. Milk cows declined while milk per cow increased from the previous year resulting in no change in milk production compared to November 2007. The number of milk cows averaged 624 thousand head, down 2 thousand head from November of the previous year. Milk per cow averaged 1580 pounds, up 5 pounds from the November 2007 rate.

Milk production in the 23 major States during November totaled 14.0 billion pounds, up 1.4 percent from November 2007. October revised production at 14.4 billion pounds, was up 1.6 percent from October 2007. Production per cow in the 23 major States averaged 1,657 pounds for November, 3 pounds above November 2007. The number of milk cows on farms in the 23 major States was 8.47 million head, 99,000 head more than November 2007, and 6,000 head more than October 2008.

Dairy Briefs

Item	Unit	New York			23 Major States
Item	Unit	Nov 2007	Oct 2008	Nov 2008	Nov 2007	Oct 2008	Nov 2008

Milk Production	Mil. lb.	986	1,013	986	13,843	14,398	14,032
Milk per cow	Lb.	1,575	1,620	1,580	1,654	1,701	1,657
No. of milk cows	Thou. hd.	626	625	624	8,369	8,452	8,468

Dairy Products Manufactured

Item	Unit	New York			United States
Item	Unit	Oct 2007	Sep 2008	Oct 2008	Oct 2007	Sep 2008	Oct 2008

Butter	Thou. lb.	1,170	756	1,324	130,364	121,008	130,014
American cheese	Thou. lb.	N/A	N/A	N/A	131,965	134,861	143,002
Mozzarella cheese	Thou. lb.	15,396	16,022	15,872	276,103	258,290	263,085
Yogurt, plain and flavored	Thou. lb.	19,088	21,819	21,255	301,028	309,710	291,549
Ice cream, hard	Thou. gal.	2,321	2,858	2,696	70,034	76,182	69,165

NEW YORK EGG PRODUCTION UP 5 PERCENT IN OCTOBER

Egg production on New York farms totaled 101 million eggs in October 2008, up 5 percent from last year. The number of hens and pullets of laying age, at 4.02 million, increased 2 percent from October 2007 and the rate of lay increased 3 percent to 2,516 eggs per 100 layers.

U.S. egg production totaled 7.61 billion during October 2008, down 1 percent from last year. Production included 6.54 billion table eggs, and 1.08 billion hatching eggs, of which 1.01 billion were broiler-type and 69 million were egg-type. The total number of layers during October 2008 averaged 335 million, down 2 percent from last year. October egg production per 100 layers was 2,276 eggs, up 1 percent from October 2007.

Poultry Briefs

Item	Unit	Oct 2007	Sep 2008	Oct 2008	Oct 2007	Sep 2008	Oct 2008
		New York			United States

Egg type layers 1/	Thou.	2/	2/	2/	285,080	277,299	279,585

All layers	Thou.	3,936	3,997	4,015	342,637	334,374	334,560
Eggs per layer	No.	2,439	2,452	2,516	2,255	2,194	2,276
Eggs produced	Mil.	96	98	101	7,726	7,336	7,613

		North and South Atlantic States			United States

Chicks hatched, egg-type	Thou.	2/	2/	2/	36,332	36,428	39,998
Chicks hatched, broiler type	Thou.	2/	2/	2/	794,846	756,565	742,121
Chicken eggs in incubators
Egg-type 1/	Thou.	9,465	9,664	9,109	34,466	35,493	34,424
Broiler-type 1/	Thou.	250,153	234,696	227,784	632,225	606,189	585,025

1/ First day of following month. 2/ Data not published to avoid disclosing individual operations.

This report, in addition to many others, is available free of charge
at our website at www.nass.usda.gov/ny/

The USDA, NASS New York Field Office thanks the agricultural businesses and farm operators who respond to our surveys. This complimentary report is being sent to those asking for the survey results during the survey interview.