Production of New York field crops increased in 2012

New York farmers substantially boosted production of a number of key field crops last year, including corn and soybeans, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data from the state.

The state’s grain-corn farmers produced an estimated 91.1 million bushels in 2012, up 11 percent from 2011, the USDA’s New York field office reported. Area for corn harvest totaled 680,000 acres, up 10 percent from the prior year, and yields averaged 134 bushels of corn per acre, up 1 bushel from the previous year.

The state’s 2012 soybean crop was estimated at a record high 14.4 million bushels, 20 percent higher than in 2011. Area harvested, at 312,000 acres, increased 13 percent from a year earlier, and yields averaged 46 bushels per acre, up 3 bushels an acre from 2011 levels.

The field office said the 2012 crop year got off to “an excellent start” because of favorable weather conditions during the planting season that helped fieldwork and planting activities to surpass 2011 levels and an average year. That fast start allowed farmers to overcome the drought conditions and high temperatures of the summer months, aided by some beneficial rains during late summer and early fall that saved the crops in most areas of the state, it said.

Production of other crops also rose in 2012. New York’s wheat production edged up 3 percent to 5.36 million bushels and oat production jumped 91 percent to 3.25 million bushels from the previous year’s record low.

Potato production in the state totaled 4.7 million hundredweight (cwt.) in 2012, up 16 percent from the record low 4.05 million cwt. produced in 2011, the New York field office said.

Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com