=========================================================== 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 =========================================================== APRIL AG REVIEW April 29, 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/ =========================================================== Volume 25, Number 4 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 Milk Production, Layer and Egg Production, Potato Stocks and Prices, and the March 2004 Agricultural Survey of Field Crop Acreage Intentions. In This Issue Chickens: Layers and Eggs Dairy Products Field Crops: Corn, Barley, Oats, Hay, and Tobacco Milk: Monthly Production and Price, Annual Production, Disposition, and Price Potatoes: Stocks and Prices POTATO STOCKS: Maine potato stocks on hand April 1, 2005, totaled 7.5 million hundredweight (cwt), 15 percent above 2004's April 1 holdings. Disappearance to April 1 in Maine totaled 11.7 million cwt, compared with 10.5 million cwt a year earlier. Storage accounted for 39 percent of Maine's total production, compared with 38 percent last year and the previous 5-year average of 37 percent. The price received for the 2004 potato crop for all sales from fresh market, processed, and seed averaged $6.55 per cwt during February 2005, above the previous year's $5.70 per cwt, but below the 5-year average of $6.67 per cwt. The 15 major potato States held 130 million cwt of potatoes in storage April 1, 2005, up three percent from both last year and April 1, 2003. Potatoes in storage account for 32 percent of the 2004 fall storage States' production, one percentage point above last year. Disappearance of 274 million cwt of potatoes is down one percent from last year and three percent below two years ago. Shrink and loss, at 26.8 million cwt so far this season, is up six percent from last year and 11 percent above the same date in 2003. Processors in the nine major States have used 136 million cwt of potatoes this season, down one percent from a year ago and six percent below two years ago. Dehydrating usage accounts for 27.8 million cwt of the total processing, down eight percent from last year and 13 percent below the same date in 2003. NEW ENGLAND FIELD CROP ACREAGE INTENTIONS FOR 2005: New England intentions for March 1, 2005 indicated farmers plan to reduce plantings of field corn in the region and increase acreage harvested for dry hay. The intentions survey conducted in March represents the acreage farmers intend to plant and/or harvest as of March 1. New England farmers expect to plant 186,000 acres of field corn in 2005, 5,000 acres less than previous year's plantings. New England farm operators intend to harvest 616,000 acres of dry hay in 2005, compared with 605,000 acres harvested the previous year. Oat growers in Maine plan to seed 32,000 acres in 2005, a reduction of 2,000 acres from a year earlier. Maine's barley producers intend to seed 22,000 acres in 2005, compared with 23,000 acres planted in 2004. Broadleaf tobacco for harvest in Connecticut and Massachusetts in 2005 is forecast at 2,300 acres, down 70 acres from last year. Grower intentions placed 2005 shade tobacco acreage for harvest in the two States at 1,250 acres, 60 acres more than the previous year's harvested acreage. UNITED STATES FIELD CROP ACREAGE INTENTIONS FOR 2005: Corn planted area for all purposes is estimated at 81.4 million acres, up one percent from 2004 and four percent above 2003. If realized, this would be largest corn acreage since 1985. Expected acreage is up from last year throughout much of the Corn Belt and southern Great Plains. However, growers in most States in the Delta, Southeast, and northern Great Plains intend to decrease their corn acreage as producers are switching to other more profitable crops due to low corn prices and high fuel and fertilizer costs. Soybean producers intend to plant 73.9 million acres in 2005, down two percent from last year's record high acreage. The largest acreage declines are in the Dakotas, where low soybean prices have some farmers shifting to other crops. Large declines in soybean acreage are also expected in the Delta and Southeast States. Acres seeded and to be seeded to oats for the 2005 crop year are expected to total 4.27 million acres, up four percent from last year's planted area. Acreage planted to oats is expected to increase or remain at the same level as 2004 in most states across the Great Plains. Iowa, New York, Texas, and Wyoming are each expecting an increase of 20,000 acres from last year. Growers intend to plant 3.97 million acres to barley in 2005, down 12 percent from last year and, if realized, the lowest since barley planted acreage estimates began in 1926. Expected acreage declined from last year in the four largest barley-producing States. Of the top 10 barley States, Minnesota is the only State with increased planting intentions. North Dakota growers expect to plant 1.20 million acres, 400,000 acres below 2004 and, if realized, the fewest planted acres on record. Drought conditions and an expected decrease in malting barley contracts are the main reasons for the decrease in planting intentions. U.S.producers expect to harvest 62.9 million acres of all hay in 2005, up two percent from last year. The two States with the largest expected increases are New York, which is up 470,000 acres from last year, and South Dakota, which is up 300,000 acres. U.S. all tobacco area for harvest in 2005 is expected to be 319,860 acres, down 22 percent from both 2004 and 2003. If realized, this will be the lowest harvested acreage on record. The previous low of 369,000 acres occurred in 1868. Large decreases in flue-cured and light air-cured harvested acreage are expected as well as decreases in dark-air cured and all cigar types. However, a slight increase in acres to be harvested is expected for fire-cured. Acreage this year will be heavily impacted by the elimination of the tobacco quota program and price supports as farmers adjust to the tobacco buyout. MILK PRODUCTION: Milk production in Vermont totaled 228 million pounds in March 2005, an increase of nearly three percent from March 2004. There were an estimated 143 thousand milk cows on Vermont farms during March 2005, unchanged from the previous month, and a decrease by 2,000 milk cows from the same month the previous year. Milk production per cow for the month averaged 1,595 pounds, an increase of 65 pounds from March 2004. Milk production during the first quarter (January-March) of 2005 totaled 1.1 billion pounds in New England. There were an estimated 229 thousand milk cows on New England farms, a decrease of 2,000 head from the previous quarter and a decrease of 5,000 head from the same period a year ago. Milk production per cow averaged 4,605 pounds for the first quarter of 2004. Milk production in the United States during the first quarter of this year totaled 43 billion pounds. There were an estimated 9.0 million milk cows in the United States during the first quarter of the year, unchanged from the same period a year ago. The United States average quarterly rate was 4,807 pounds per cow for the first quarter of 2005. ANNUAL MILK PRODUCTION AND VALUE: Milk production in New England during 2004 totaled 4.2 billion pounds, a decrease of three percent from 2003. The annual average number of milk cows in 2004 was 233,200 head, down four percent from the previous year. Annual production per cow averaged 18,034 pounds, which set a record high milk rate per cow in New England. Cash receipts from all milk sales in 2004 totaled $717.8 million, an increase of 25 percent from 2003. New England dairy producers received an average of $17.20 per hundredweight for all milk sold in 2004, an increase of $3.88 per hundredweight above the previous year's average price. Milk Production in the United States totaled 170 billion pounds in 2004, unchanged from the 2003 total. The annual average number of milk cows on the Nation's farms in 2004 was 9.01 million head, a decrease of less than one percent from the previous year's total. The annual average production rate per cow in 2004 was 18,957 pounds, an increase of 197 pounds per cow from the 2003 rate. Cash receipts from all milk sales during 2004 was $27.4 billion, a 29 percent increase from the previous year's sales. The Nation's dairy farmers received an average return of $16.13 per hundredweight, an increase of $3.58 per hundredweight above the 2003 average price. 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 in the body. ************************** end of file **********************