Final numbers on Washington's wheat crop
Washington Ag Today October 2, 2009 The Small Grains Summary from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service shows Washington farmers harvested just over 123 million bushels of wheat this year. About four million more than in 2008. David Knopf, who heads up the Washington field office of the Statistics Service breaks down the numbers between winter and spring wheat. Knopf: “Winter wheat production was 96.8 million bushels up from 96.3 million bushels in 2008. Spring wheat production increased 17% from last year totaling 26.3 million bushels. Yields for both winter and spring wheat were up three bushels an acre from 2008 but were below the five year average. Winter wheat this year averaged 59 bushels an acre and spring wheat was at 45 bushels per acre.” White wheat accounted for 80 percent of Washington’s winter wheat production compared to 85 percent in 2008. White wheat varieties accounted for 51 percent of the spring crop, up one percent from last year. Barley growers in Washington produced 6.2 million bushels of barley this year. That was a 44 percent drop from 2008. A decline of 98-thousand harvested acres contributed to the reduction. Wheat stocks in Washington as of September 1st were up 19 percent from September of 2008 while barley stocks were down nine percent. More wheat in Washington was being stored off-farm than on-farm compared to last year. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network. ?
