Virginia: Corn, cotton, soybean yields down in 2010

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced today that many of Virginia’s major crops produced lower yields in 2010. Corn, soybeans, peanuts, cotton and hay yields were significantly lower than 2009.

Corn for grain yields averaged 67 bushels per acre, down 64 bushels from the previous year’s yield. Production is estimated at 20.8 million bushels, 52 percent below the 2009 production. Corn for grain harvested area was 310,000 acres, down 20,000 acres from last year. Corn silage harvested acreage totaled 155,000 acres, with an average yield of 12.5 tons per acre.

Soybean yields averaged 26 bushels per acre, down 11.0 bushels from last year. A total of 540,000 acres were harvested for grain, a decrease of 30,000 from last year’s soybean acreage. Soybean production is estimated at 14.0 million bushels, 33 percent less than last year’s production.

Virginia’s peanut producers harvested 18,000 acres, up 6,000 acres from 2009. Peanut yields averaged 1,800 pounds per acre, down 1,900 pounds per acre from last year’s record yield. Peanut production is estimated at 32.4 million pounds, down 27 percent from the 2009 production.

Cotton production is estimated at 117,000 bales, down 15 percent from 2009. The cotton yield forecast is 685 pounds per acre, down 367 pounds from last year’s yield. Producers harvested 82,000 acres in 2010, an increase of 19,000 acres from last year.

Flue-cured tobacco yields averaged 2,350 pounds per acre, up 10 pounds per acre from last year’s yield of 2,340. Virginia’s production is expected to total 41.1 million pounds, up slightly from last year. Burley tobacco yields averaged 1,900 pounds per acre, down 240 pounds from 2009. Fire-cured tobacco yields are estimated at 1,900 pounds per acre, down 100 pounds from last year. Burley production is estimated at 3.0 million pounds, down 29 percent from 2009. Fire-cured tobacco production is estimated at 1.2 million pounds, down 5 percent from last year.

All hay production in Virginia is estimated at 2.2 million tons, down 18 percent from last year. Alfalfa production is 184 thousand tons, down 32 percent from last year’s total. All other hay production is at 2.0 million tons, down 17 percent from last year.

Virginia wheat producers planted 280,000 acres of winter wheat, an increase of 100,000 acres from last year and an increase of 30,000 acres from 2 years ago.

Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at [email protected].