Larger winter wheat crop forecast for Washington; hay stocks pile up

Washington Ag Today May 13, 2009  Washington wheat growers are expected to harvest fewer acres of winter wheat this year but produce more bushels from them. Linda Simpson with the Washington Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service has the details on the USDA’s first estimate of the 2009 winter wheat crop in the state.

Simpson: “Washington wheat growers expect to harvest 20-thousand fewer acres of winter wheat this year than last year. A combination of dry conditions last fall and lack of moisture this spring has resulted in fewer acres of winter wheat developing, particularly in the central part of the state. Growers will produce 102 million bushels of winter wheat this year from 1.7 million harvested acres. If realized, this production would be six percent above last year.”

Winter wheat yields in the state as of May 1st are forecast to average 60 bushels an acre, up four bushels from 2008, which more than makes up for the reduction in acreage resulting in a larger crop.

Winter wheat production in neighboring Oregon and Idaho is forecast to go down from 2008, and nationally the winter wheat crop is pegged to drop 20 percent from last year.

The Agricultural Statistics Service also reports that hay stocks in Washington, sold and unsold, as of May 1st totaled 350-thousand tons, up from 200-hundred thousand last May and the highest level since May of 2004. Combined hay stocks in the Pacific Northwest are up 65 percent from 2008 due to lower demand tied to lower dairy prices.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.