New York sweet-corn production declined 17 percent in 2020

New York farms produced an estimated 288 million pounds of sweet corn in 2020, down 17 percent from the 2019 estimate, according to a USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) 2020 vegetable production-summary report issued on Feb. 12.

The average yield per acre was estimated at 11,500 pounds last year, almost 12 percent below the 2019 average yield of 13,000 pounds per acre.

Empire State farmers harvested 25,000 acres of sweet corn in 2020, down 6 percent from the year before, according to NASS. The value of production totaled $36.9 million last year, off 9 percent from 2019.