new-eng-general-agriculture =========================================================== 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 =========================================================== NOVEMBER AG REVIEW NOVEMBER 28, 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/ =========================================================== POTATOES: 2005 potato production in Maine is estimated at 15.8 million cwt (hundredweight), 17 percent below 2004 production and the smallest crop harvested in the state since 1922. Maine farmers planted 57,500 acres in 2005, a reduction of 6,000 acres from the previous year. The November 1 forecast placed acres harvested at 56,500 acres, 1,000 fewer acres than planted. A late season and poor harvesting conditions in October conspired to keep farmers harvesting into early November, and many farmers were still digging when the fall survey was conducted. Final acres harvested figures will be available December 15, 2005 in the Potato Stocks release, when end of season reports are tabulated. Yields averaged 280 cwt per acre in 2005, below 2004’s record yielding crop, but above the previous 5-year average of 276 cwt per acre. Maine’s 2005 potato crop had a rainy start and a rainy finish. Cool, wet weather during the month of May delayed planting by two weeks. The crop was only 20 percent planted as of June 1, compared with last year’s 95 percent planted and normal of 80 percent planted. Drought conditions during the summer put stress on the developing crop, but kept disease pressure in check. September rains bulked up potatoes, but made harvest difficult. Excessive rains hit mid-October, when the crop was only 80 percent harvested. Flooded fields delayed harvest at many locations, and growers were still digging at the end of October. Results from the 2005 Potato Objective Yield Survey placed Russet Burbank as the leading variety seeded in Maine, comprising 42.5 percent of the total acres planted. Frito-Lay varieties comprised 17.1 percent of the total acreage, followed by Shepody with 7.2 percent. Atlantic replaced Ontario as the fourth largest variety planted in the state, with 3.5 percent seeded in 2005. Fewer white varieties (long and round), and more russets were planted in Maine in 2005 than a year earlier. Maine’s Annual Grade and Size report will be available on January 12, 2006. Potato farmers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island also battled wet conditions to get the crop planted and harvested, with near drought conditions during the growing season. The remnants of Hurricane Rita hit in early October, when harvest was 85-95 percent complete. Flooding was extensive and field entry impossible at many locations during the next two weeks due to oversaturated soils. Massachusetts growers harvested 2,400 acres with yields averaging 260 cwt per acre. Rhode Island potato farmers harvested 500 acres and yields averaged 225 cwt per acre. MILK PRODUCTION: Milk production in Vermont during October 2005 totaled 214 million pounds, an increase of one percent from October 2004. There were an estimated 142,000 milk cows on Vermont farms during October, unchanged from the previous month, and a decrease of 3,000 head from the same month the previous year. Milk production per cow during October averaged 1,505 pounds, an increase of 50 pounds per cow from October 2004. LABOR: There were 38,000 hired workers on farms in the Northeast during the week of October 9 -15, 2005, down 16 percent from a year earlier when there were 45,000 hired workers. Nationally, there were 840,000 workers hired by farm operators during the same October time period, compared with 851,000 hired workers during 2004. In the Northeast, hired workers earned an average hourly wage of $10.19 during the survey week, up 38 cents from October 2004. Across the United States hired workers were paid an average of $9.61 per hour, compared with $9.32 one year ago. Hired workers worked an average of 40.1 hours in the Northeast compared with 42.0 hours worked nationwide during the survey week. Quarterly farm labor statistics for the Northeast region consist of the six New England States and New York. Although only quarterly statistics were available for the Northeast region, annual averages for wage rates were available for the six New England States. In 2005, the New England agricultural wage rates decreased from $10.64 per hour in 2004 to $10.40 per hour in 2005 for all hired workers. LAYER AND EGG PRODUCTION: Connecticut and Maine layer inventories in October 2005 averaged 7.0 million birds. Maine was the leading producer of eggs in New England, with an output of 83 million eggs during October 2005. Connecticut layers produced 70 million eggs from all layers during the same month. The total number of layers in the United States during October 2005 averaged 344 million, down less than one percent from a year earlier. United States egg production totaled 7.7 billion eggs during October 2005, an increase of nearly one percent over last year. Production included 6.6 billion table eggs and 1.1 billion hatching eggs. 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****************************