The USDA NASS  New York Field Office "Fact Finders for Agriculture"
NY Publications	Email Subscriptions	Home

Return to the Table of Contents for Crop and Livestock Publications

E-mail: nass-ny@nass.usda.gov
(518) 457-5570

Released: August 2003

Monthly

No. 973-8-03

New York grain corn production is forecast at 47.3 million bushels, up 8 percent from last year. Area for harvest is expected to total 430 thousand acres, 4 percent below a year ago. Yield is forecast at 110 bushels per acre, up 13 bushels from 2002. The crop was developing well due to warm temperatures and adequate moisture.

Alfalfa dry hay production is estimated at 1.32 million tons, 1 percent above 2002. All other dry hay, at 1.80 million tons, is down 25 percent from last year. Oat production is estimated at 4.29 million bushels, up 18 percent from a year ago. Soybean output is projected to total 5.40 million bushels, up 22 percent from 2002.

U.S. grain corn production is forecast at 10.1 billion bushels, up 12 percent from last year and 2 percent above 2001. Yields are expected to average 139.9 bushels per acre, up 9.9 bushels from last year. If realized, both U.S. production and yield would be the largest on record.

Soybean production is forecast at 2.86 billion bushels, up 5 percent from 2002. Yields are expected to average 39.4 bushels per acre, up 1.6 bushels from a year earlier. Yields are higher than 2002 across much of the United States.

All cattle and calves in the United States as of July 1, 2003 totaled 103.9 million head, 1 percent below the 105.1 million on July 1,2002. All cows and heifers that have calved, at 42.7 million, were slightly below the 42.9 million on July 1,2002. Milk cows, at 9.10 million, were down 1 percent from July 1, 2002. Beef cows, at 33.6 million, were down slightly.

Beef replacement heifers were unchanged from a year earlier. Milk cow heifers at 3.6 million were down 3 percent from the previous year.

The 2003 calf crop is expected to be 38.04 million, down 1 percent from 2002 and down 1 percent from 2001. Calves born during the first half of the year are estimated at 27.70 million, down 1 percent from 2002 and down 1 percent from 2000.

Prices received by New York farmers during July for selected commodities were mostly lower compared with a month earlier. Prices for oats, wheat, barley, soybeans, and hay declined while prices for corn, milk, and eggs increased.

Grain corn averaged $2.96 per bushel, up 5 cents from June and 34 cents above July 2002. Oats brought $2.27 per bushel, down 8 cents from a month earlier and 64 cents above a year ago. Wheat, at $2.97 per bushel, was down 5 cents from the previous month and 2 cents less than July a year ago. Barley prices averaged $2.46 per bushel, down 6 cents from June but 83 cents more than July 2002. Hay averaged $122.00 per ton baled, down $7.00 from the previous month but $13.00 above July 2002.

Empire State dairy farmers received an average of $12.10 per hundredweight of milk sold during July, up 30 cents from June and unchanged from July a year ago. The price of milk cow herd replacements averaged $1,250 per head compared with $1,600 during July 2002. Poultry producers received an average of 57.0 cents per dozen eggs sold, up 2.0 cents from June and 8.5 cents more than a year earlier.

At the National level, the preliminary All Farm Products Index of Prices Received by Farmers in July is 104, based on 1990-92=100, down 3 points (2.8 percent) from the June Index. Since last month all commodity group indexes are unchanged or lower except cotton, fruit and nuts, and dairy. Lower prices for lettuce, corn, hogs, and wheat more than offset higher prices for dairy, cantaloupe, asparagus, and broccoli. The seasonal change in the mix of commodities farmers sell, based on the past 3-year average, also affects the overall index. Decreased average marketings of dairy, cantaloupe, asparagus, and strawberries offset increased marketings of wheat, grapes, hay, and peaches. This preliminary All Farm Products Index is up 5 points (5.1 percent) from July 2002. Higher prices for cattle, broilers, eggs, and soybeans more than offset lower prices for wheat, sweet corn, potatoes, and turkeys.

New York dairy herds produced 1.02 billion pounds of milk during July, down 2 percent from the July 2002 level. The decrease was the result of fewer cows milked and a lower rate per cow. The number of milk cows totaled 679,000 head, down 1,000 head from July of the previous year and last month. Milk per cow averaged 1,500 pounds, 35 pounds less than July 2002.

Milk production in the 20 major states during July totaled 12.4 billion pounds, up 0.6 percent from production in these same states during July 2002. Production per cow averaged 1,590 pounds for July, up 12 pounds from July 2002. The number of cows on farms in the 20 major states was 7.77 million head, 15,000 head less than July 2002.

Egg production on New York farms, totaled 85 million eggs in June 2003, down 5 percent from last year. The number of hens and pullets of laying age, at 3.36 million, was up slightly from June 2002, and the rate of lay was also up slightly to 23.57 eggs per layer.

Laying flocks in the United States produced 7.05 billion eggs during June 2003, down slightly from the previous June. An indication of future egg supply, chicks hatched in the U.S. during June for the purpose of egg production totaled 36.3 million, up 3 percent from June 2002. Eggs in incubators on July 1, 2003 totaled 32.3 million, up 1 percent from previous year.