Record yields for U.S. spring wheat and barley

Farm and Ranch October 1, 2009 The USDA’s Small Grain Summary report on the 2009 wheat crop issued Wednesday showed total wheat production in the Pacific Northwest this year was 271 million bushels, less than one percent above last year. The winter wheat crop in the region was down three percent from 2008 while spring wheat production was up ten percent.

USDA pegged the total U.S. spring wheat crop at 587 million bushels, up seven percent from its August forecast and from last year. That was more than grain traders expected and Lance Honig of the USDA’s Statistics Service explains why the trade may have been surprised.

Honig: “The yield is estimated at 45 bushels an acre. That is a new record high yield. In fact that is 3 ½ bushels higher than the previous forecast and 4 ½ bushels higher than last year. So that is a very large number.”

Acreage of oats and barley were low this year but Honig says those grains set national average yield records too, with barley at 72.8 bushels an acre.

Honig: “If you look at harvested area for barley it is the second lowest since the 1880s. For oats is the lowest on record for harvested acres. But for both barley and oats, like the durum and spring wheat record high yields this year. So that is kind of countering that low acreage.”

PNW barley production this year at 56.6 million bushels was down ten percent from 2008. Nationally the barley crop was down five percent.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.

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