=========================================================== New England Agricultural Statistics - - - a field office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service United States Department of Agriculture Aubrey R. Davis, Director Phone: (603) 224-9639 22 Bridge St, 3rd Floor Fax: (603) 225-1434 PO Box 1444 Internet: http://www.usda.gov/nass/ Concord, NH 03302-1444 E-Mail: nass.nh@nass.usda.gov =========================================================== JUNE AG REVIEW June 24, 2005 The following is an abbreviated version of the report. The entire document is available as a PDF file on the Internet through: http://www.nass.usda.gov/nh/ =========================================================== A special "Thank you" goes to New England producers and agri-businesses who have helped us by completing surveys via mail, telephone, or personal interviews. This issue contains the results of monthly and quarterly surveys including the Potato Price Survey, floriculture, dairy, and poultry surveys and the maple report. MAPLE: NEW ENGLAND (excluding Rhode Island): In New England maple syrup production for 2005 totaled 782,000, down 16 percent from last year. Vermont remained the largest producing state in New England and the Nation, with 33 percent of the Nation's maple syrup. Taps in New England totaled 4.1 million, up 1.0 percent from last year and making up 58 percent of the Nation's maple taps. The 2005 maple season was rated too cool in temperature, causing production decreases in all five New England states. Temperatures were reported at 57 percent too cool, 22 percent too warm, and 21 percent favorable. The season started late because it was too cold and then warmed up too fast. Earliest dates for each state were as follows: New Hampshire - February 1, Connecticut and Massachusetts - February 2, Vermont - February 4, and Maine - February 14. Latest closing dates were Connecticut - April 15, Massachusetts - April 19, New Hampshire - April 23, Maine - April 29, and Vermont - April 30. The sugar content of the sap was average, requiring 40 gallons of sap to produce a gallon of syrup. The majority of the syrup produced was medium amber followed by light amber and then dark syrup. 2004 PRICES AND SALES: Across New England, the average equivalent price per gallon for 2004 maple syrup varied widely depending on the percentage sold retail, wholesale, or bulk. The 2004 all sales equivalent price increased $3.10 in Connecticut to $51.70 and $4.40 in Massachusetts to $46.30. The price dropped $3.10 in Maine to $19.40, $7.60 in New Hampshire to $35.40, and $0.50 in Vermont to $27.30. Maine's price continues to be lower than the other states due to the high percentage of bulk sales within that state. New England's 2004 gallon equivalent price of $26.87 reflects a decrease of $1.09 from the 2003 price of $27.96. UNITED STATES: The 2005 United States maple syrup production totaled 1.24 million gallons, down 18 Percent from 2004. The number of taps is estimated at 7.10 million, up two percent from the 2004 total of 6.96 million, while the yield per tap is estimated to be 0.175 gallons, down 19 percent from 2004. Vermont led all states in production with 410,000 gallons, a decrease of 18 percent from last season. Maine's production, at 265,000 gallons, decreased 9 percent from 2004. Production in New York at 222,000 gallons, is 13 percent below 2004. Production is down 50 percent in Wisconsin, 31 percent in New Hampshire, 27 percent in Michigan, 20 percent in Massachusetts, 12 percent in Ohio, and 9 percent in Connecticut from last season. Pennsylvania, the only state with increased production, is up 2 percent from 2004. An increase in taps in most states was more than offset by a decrease in yield causing production to decline. Temperatures in the maple producing states were generally unfavorable for good sap flow and syrup production in 2005. Most of these states experienced weather that was too cold for sap flow. On average, the season lasted approximately 24 days in 2005 compared to 30 in 2004. Pennsylvania had the earliest sap flow in 2005 with an approximate season opening day of January 20. New York had the latest sap flow in 2005 with an approximate season ending date of May 1. Sugar content of the sap for 2005 was higher than last year. Approximately 40 gallons of sap was required to produce one gallon of syrup. This compares with 42 gallons in 2004 and 41 gallons in 2003. More light syrup was produced than last year but overall most syrup produced was of medium color. FLORICULTURE: Connecticut: The number of commercial growers in 2004 was 250, down 34 growers from the previous year and is the lowest number of growers in the last 10 years. The wholesale equivalent value of sales increased from $82.2 million in 2003 to $90.6 million in 2004. Bedding and garden plants remained the largest category with 85 percent of whole sale equivalent sales for operations with more than $100,000 in sales. Massachusetts: The number of commercial growers in 2004 was 395, down 36 growers from the previous year; also, the lowest grower count in the past 10 years. The wholesale equivalent value of sales increased from $76.8 million in 2003 to $77.4 million in 2004. As was true in Connecticut, bedding and garden plants were the largest category with 74 percent of wholesale equivalent sales for operations with more than $100,000 in sales. All values in the following tables are wholesale equivalent value of sales; they were derived by multiplying the average wholesale price by the total quantity sold. POTATO STOCKS: Maine potato stocks on hand June 1, 2005, totaled 3.0 million hundredweight (cwt), 30 percent above 2004's June 1 holdings. Disappearance to June 1 in Maine totaled 16.2 million cwt, compared with 14.7 million cwt a year earlier. Losses from storage remain high, as farmers continue efforts to market the remainder of the crop. Storage accounted for 16 percent of Maine's total production, compared with 14 percent in June of 2004. The price received for 2004 crop potatoes across all sales for fresh market, processing, and seed averaged $6.90 per cwt during April 2005, compared with $6.30 per cwt a year earlier and the previous 5-year average of $7.49 per cwt. The 15 major potato States held 51.0 million cwt of potatoes in storage June 1, 2005, up 11 percent from both last year and June 1, 2003. Potatoes in storage account for 13 percent of the 2004 fall storage States' production, two percentage points above last year. Disappearance of 352 million cwt of potatoes is down one percent from last year and two percent below two years ago. Shrink and loss, at 31.1 million cwt so far this season, is up four percent from last year and 14 percent above the same date in 2003. Processors in the 9 major States have used 173 million cwt of potatoes this season, down one percent from a year ago and four percent below two years ago. Milk: Milk production in Vermont during May 2005 totaled 238 million pounds, a six percent increase over May 2004. There were an estimated 144,000 milk cows on Vermont farms, unchanged from the previous month. Milk production per cow averaged 1,650 pounds. Milk production in the 23 major milk-producing States during May 2005 totaled over 14 billion pounds, a four percent increase from May 2004. The number of cows on farms totaled 8.1 million head. Milk production per cow averaged 1,754 pounds in May. This is a monthly summary of New England agricultural statistics taken from nationwide reports issued by USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. All National reports and State newsletters are available on the Internet at: http://www.usda.gov/nass/ National reports can be ordered by calling 1-800-999-6779. How can you get these reports electronically? * For free National e-mail reports, send a message to: usda-reports@usda.mannlib.cornell.edu and in the body of the message, type: lists * For free State newsletters, such as this, send a message to: listserv@newsbox.usda.gov and in the body, type: subscribe usda-new-eng-all-reports OR for a list of all available reports, type: lists for other states. **************************End of Report****************************