The USDA-NASS, Pacific Regional Office released the crop production forecast for November. The latest survey showed big increases in harvested acres for corn, cotton and rice.
Corn – Corn for grain harvested acreage is 75 thousand, up 25 percent from last year. The yield forecast of 5.04 tons per acre is up 15 percent from the previous year. Production is expected to total 378 thousand tons, up 43 percent from last year.
Cotton – Upland cotton harvested acreage is at 65 thousand, which is up 41 percent from 2015. Yield is up 6 percent from October’s forecast, and up 7 percent from last year. The production forecast is at 250 thousand bales, up 52 percent from last year. Pima cotton harvested acreage is at 153 thousand acres and up 32 percent from last year. Yield is unchanged from the October’s forecast, but up 2 percent from last year. Production forecast is at 484 thousand bales, up 34 percent from last year.
Rice – All rice harvested acreage in California is at 559 thousand acres, up 33 percent from last year. The yield forecast is 8,900 pounds per acre and is unchanged from October and up from 8,890 last year. All rice production forecast is at 49.8 million hundredweight for 2016, up 33 percent from the previous year.
Sugar Beets – Harvested acreage is estimated at 25.2 thousand and the yield forecast is 44.2 tons per acre. California sugar beet production forecast is at 1.11 million tons, up 2 percent from the 2015 crop.
Potatoes – Fall potato harvested acreage in California is estimated at 7.9 thousand and the yield forecast is 445 hundredweight per acre. Production forecast is at 3.52 million hundredweight, down less than 1 percent from a year ago.
Sugarcane – Hawaii sugarcane harvested acreage of 14.9 thousand is down 11 percent from the previous year. The yield forecast is 91.9 tons per acre, unchanged from the October forecast. Production forecast is at 1.37 million tons, up 3 percent from the 2015 crop.
Production forecasts are released on a monthly basis and do not reflect final production estimates. Late summer and fall harvests may change these estimates considerably. The next production forecast will be issued December 9, 2016.
November Crop Production Report. (.pdf)