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AP
North Dakota's Corn Crop Forecast Good
Thursday September 13, 7:22 am ET
By Blake Nicholson, Associated Press Writer
The Agriculture Department is forecasting the state's 2007 corn crop at a record 279 million bushels, up 2 percent from the August forecast and 80 percent above last year's crop. The spring wheat crop is projected at 238 million bushels.
If both estimates hold true, it will be the first time in North Dakota history that corn bushels outpace spring wheat, USDA records show.
Earl Stabenow, a statistician with USDA's agricultural statistics office in Fargo, said a big yield helps. The yield for this year's corn crop is expected to top last year's by nearly 15 percent.
"It's the yield that's pushing the corn," Stabenow said.
North Dakota corn acres for harvest also are at a record high -- 2.2 million -- though spring wheat acres still dwarf corn by nearly a three-to-one ratio.
Jim Peterson, the marketing director for the North Dakota Wheat Commission, said that even though farmers may harvest more bushels of corn than spring wheat, the production value of the wheat is higher.
Using the average national price projected for wheat at $5.80 per bushel, the state's spring wheat crop value is about $1.4 billion while the production value of the corn crop, with an average national price of $3.10 per bushel, is about $865 million, he said.
"This year, corn stole some acres from wheat, but it's going to be interesting," Peterson said. "The market is saying it wants wheat acres."
North Dakota farmers have long led the nation in the production of spring wheat. Corn has been a major crop in the state for less than a decade and has benefited from new hybrids that have a shorter growing season.
Weather in eastern North Dakota also has been generally wetter the past 15 years, said Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson. Corn uses more water than wheat, and wheat is susceptible to disease if it is wet and humid during the crop's summer flowering period.
Johnson said he believes the demand for corn will continue, but he said high spring wheat prices might boost production of that crop next year.
"This is a demand-driven economy right now for all the crops we produce," Johnson said.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas farmers are expected to harvest an even more bountiful corn crop this season than had been anticipated, topping last year's production by 33 percent.
The Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service's revised corn production forecast of 459 million bushels was up 2 percent from expectations just last month.
Demand from the ethanol industry has boosted prices. Kansas farmers responded by planting 3.7 million corn acres, 250,000 more acres than a year ago.
A wet spring also helped boost yields. The government report Wednesday predicted average yields at 135 bushels per acre, up 20 bushels an acre from last year's average.
If the forecast holds, Kansas will harvest far more corn than winter wheat this year. Production of winter wheat, which was harvested in early summer, was pegged at 288 million bushels in Kansas.
