October Crop Production Report - Part 2

Today we are continuing our conversation with National Agricultural Statistics Service’s Mountain Director Bill Meyer about the highlights from the October Colorado Crop Production report. He shares more about the hay forecast
Meyer: “Hay forecast for Colorado we are estimating Alfalfa hay production at 2.85 million tons, which is down a little from the 2.87 million tons produced last year. We estimate that there will be 750,000 acres of alfalfa harvested this year, up 50,000 acres from last year. Other hay production is estimated at 1.50 million tons, up 5 percent from the 1.43 million tons a year ago. Other hay yield is expected to average 2 tons per acre, compared with last year’s yield of 1.90 tons per acre and the August 1 forecast of 1.90 tons per acre.At the U.S. level, the alfalfa production is estimated at 62.8 million tons and that is up 7 percent from last year.”
Meyer continues with the state’s sunflower production forecast.
Meyer: “This is the first time we’ve estimated sunflower production and that is estimated at 95.2 million pounds, that’s up 12 percent from last year — which was 85.2 million pounds. All sunflower yield is expected to average 1,400 pounds per acre, and that’s up from166 pounds from last year. At the U.S. level for sunflower the production is estimated at 2.46 billion pounds and that is down 16 percent from last year.”