The US Department of Agriculture released a report this week detailing 2015 crops, which in Montana pointed downwards compared to 2014.
All wheat production in Montana, estimated at 185.42 million bushels, is down 11 percent from 2014. All wheat yield was 35.2 bushels per acre, down 1.9 bushels per acre from a year ago.
Winter wheat producers seeded 2.35 million acres in the fall of 2014 for harvest in 2015, down from 2.50 million acres seeded for the previous year’s crop. Area harvested for grain decreased 20,000 acres from last year to 2.22 million acres in 2015. Winter wheat production is estimated at 91.02 million bushels, down 1 percent from last year. Winter wheat yield, at 41 bushels per acre, is unchanged from last year.
Spring wheat seedings, at 2.55 million acres, are down 500,000 acres from last year. Area harvested totaled 2.44 million acres, down from 2.98 million acres harvested last year. Spring wheat production is estimated at 75.64 million bushels, down 27 percent from last year. Spring wheat yield, at 31 bushels per acre, is down 4.0 bushels per acre from last year.
Durum wheat seedings, at 620,000 acres, are up 185,000 acres from last year. Area harvested totaled 605,000 acres, up from 430,000 acres harvested last year. Durum wheat production is estimated at 18.76 million bushels, up 41 percent from last year. Durum wheat yield, at 31 bushels per acre, is unchanged from last year.
Winter wheat seedings last fall for the 2016 crop year are estimated at 2.25 million acres, down 4 percent from last year.
Montana’s barley seeded area, at 970,000 acres, is up 50,000 acres from last year. Harvested area, at 850,000 acres, is up 80,000 acres from 2014. Barley yield, at 52 bushels per acre, is down 6.0 bushels per acre from last year. Barley production in 2015 is estimated at 44.20 million bushels, down 1 percent from the previous year.
All hay production for 2015 in Montana is estimated at 4.68 million tons, down 13 percent from the 2014 total.
Alfalfa hay production was estimated at 3.4 million tons from 1.7 million acres harvested, down 485,000 tons from 2014. Average yield for the 2015 crop was 2 tons per acre, 0.10 ton per acre below last year.
All other hay production totaled 1.28 million tons from 800,000 acres harvested, down 216,000 tons from 2014. The average yield of 1.60 tons per acre was down 0.10 ton per acre from last year. New seedings of alfalfa and alfalfa mixtures in Montana were estimated at 100,000 acres, unchanged from 2014.
Montana potato growers produced 3.49 million hundredweight of potatoes this year, down 4 percent from last year’s crop. Average yield at 320 hundredweight per acre, was unchanged from last year’s yield. Harvested area of 10,900 acres this year was 400 acres less than last year’s harvested area.
As of December 1, producers in Montana were storing 3.7 million tons of all hay, down 20 percent from the 4.6 million tons stored last year.
United states highlights
All wheat production totaled 2.05 billion bushels in 2015, up 1 percent from the 2014 total. Area harvested for grain totaled 47.1 million acres, up 2 percent from the previous year. The United States yield is estimated at 43.6 bushels per acre, down 0.1 bushel from the previous year.
Winter wheat production for 2015 totaled 1.37 billion bushels, down less than 1 percent from the 2014 total. The United States yield, at 42.5 bushels per acre, is down 0.1 bushel from 2014. Area harvested for grain is estimated at 32.3 million acres, down slightly from the previous year.
Other spring wheat production for 2015 is estimated at 599 million bushels, up less than 1 percent from the 2014 total. Harvested area totaled 12.9 million acres, up 2 percent from 2014. The United States yield is estimated at 46.3 bushels per acre, down 0.4 bushel below the 2014 average yield. Of the total production, 564 million bushels are Hard Red Spring wheat, up 2 percent from 2014.
Durum wheat production for 2015 is estimated at 82.5 million bushels, up 53 percent from the 2014 total. Grain area harvested totaled 1.9 million acres, up 41 percent from the previous year. The United States yield is estimated at 43.5 bushels per acre, up 3.3 bushels from 2014.
Winter Winter wheat seeded area for 2016 is expected to total 36.6 million acres, down 7 percent from 2015. Approximate class acreage breakdowns are: Hard Red Winter, 26.5 million; Soft Red Winter, 6.72 million; and White Winter, 3.43 million.
Barley production is estimated at 214 million bushels, up 18 percent from the revised 2014 total. Average yield per acre, at 68.9 bushels, is down 3.8 bushels from the previous year. Producers seeded 3.56 million acres in 2015, up 17 percent from last year. Harvested area, at 3.11 million acres, is up 25 percent from 2014.
Production of fall potatoes for 2015 is estimated at 405 million cwt, down 1 percent from the November forecast but up slightly from last year. Area harvested, at 937,700 acres, is down 1 percent from the November forecast but up 1 percent from last year. The average yield is estimated at 431 cwt per acre, down 1 cwt from the November forecast and down 3 cwt from last year’s yield.
Production of all dry hay for 2015 is estimated at 134 million tons, down 6 percent from the October 1 forecast and down 4 percent from the revised 2014 total. Area harvested is estimated at 54.4 million acres, down 4 percent from the October 1 forecast and down 5 percent from 2014. The average yield, at 2.47 tons per acre, is down .05 ton from the October 1 forecast but up .02 ton from the previous year.
Production of alfalfa and alfalfa mixtures in 2015 is estimated at 59.0 million tons, down 7 percent from the October 1 forecast and down 4 percent from the revised 2014 total. Harvested area, at 17.8 million acres, is down 3 percent from the October 1 forecast and down 3 percent below the previous year. Average yield is estimated at 3.32 tons per acre, 0.13 ton below the October 1forecast and down .02 ton from 2014.
Production of all other hay in 2015 totaled 75.4 million tons, down 5 percent from the October forecast and down 4 percent from the revised 2014 total. Harvested area, at 36.7 million acres, is down 4 percent from the October 1 forecast and down 5 percent from last year. Average yield is estimated at a record 2.06 tons per acre, down 0.01 ton from the October 1 forecast but up 0.03 ton from the previous year. Growers seeded 2.54 million acres of alfalfa and alfalfa mixtures during 2015, down slightly from 2014.
All hay stored on United States farms as of December 1, 2015 totaled 95.0 million tons, up 3 percent from the previous December. Disappearance from May 1, 2015 - December 1, 2015 totaled 63.9 million tons, compared with 67.0 million tons for the same period a year earlier.
Corn for grain production is estimated at 13.6 billion bushels, down slightly from the November forecast and down 4 percent from the 2014 estimate. The average yield in the United States is estimated at 168.4 bushels per acre. This is down .9 bushel from the November forecast and 2.6 bushels below the 2014 average yield of 171.0 bushels per acre. Area harvested for grain is estimated at 80.7 million acres, up slightly from the November forecast but down 3 percent from the 2014 acreage. Corn silage production is estimated at 127 million tons for 2015, down less than 1 percent from 2014. The United States silage yield is estimated at 20.4 tons per acre, up 0.3 ton from 2014. Area harvested for silage is estimated at 6.22 million acres, down 2 percent from a year ago.
–USDA