Annual Crop Summary – 2019

COLORADO HIGHLIGHTS

The 2019 corn for grain crop is estimated at 159.90 million bushels, 3 percent above last year’s production of 154.70 million bushels, according to the December 1 Agricultural Survey conducted by the Mountain Regional Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA. The average yield of 123.0 bushels per acre is 7.0 bushels per acre below the yield realized last year. Area harvested for grain in 2019, at 1.30 million acres, is 110,000 acres above last year. Acreage cut for corn silage is estimated at 175,000 acres, down 15,000 acres from last year, with production estimated at 4.20 million tons, compared with 4.18 million tons produced last year.

Sorghum for grain production is estimated at 12.71 million bushels, down 26 percent from the previous year. Average yield is estimated at 41.0 bushels per acre, down 12.0 bushels per acre from last year. Producers harvested 310,000 acres for grain, down 15,000 acres from last year’s area harvested. Acreage cut for sorghum silage is estimated at 18,000 acres, up 10,000 acres from last year, with production estimated at 306,000 tons compared with 112,000 tons produced last year.

Colorado’s barley seeded area, at 54,000 acres, is down 6,000 acres from last year. Harvested area, at 52,000 acres, is down 1,000 acres from 2018. Barley yield, at 138.0 bushels per acre, is down 7.0 bushels per acre from last year. Barley production in 2019 is estimated at 7.18 million bushels, down 7 percent from the previous year.

Winter wheat production in Colorado, estimated at 98.00 million bushels, is up 40 percent from 2018. Winter wheat producers seeded 2.150 million acres in the fall of 2018 for harvest in 2019, down from 2.25 million acres seeded for the previous year’s crop. Acreage harvested for grain increased 50,000 acres from last year to 2.00 million acres in 2019. Winter wheat yield, at a record 49.0 bushels per acre, is up 13.0 bushels per acre from last year, and 1.0 bushel above the previous record yield of 48.0 bushels per acre set in 2016.

Proso millet production in the state is estimated at 11.84 million bushels, up from 7.56 million bushels produced last year. Farmers harvested 320,000 acres of proso millet, up 50,000 acres from the previous year. Yield increased 9.0 bushels per acre from last year to 37.0 bushels per acre.

All hay production for 2019 is estimated at 4.05 million tons, up 12 percent from the 2018 total. Alfalfa hay production is estimated at 2.70 million tons from 730,000 acres harvested, up 219,000 tons from 2018. Average yield for the 2019 crop is 3.70 tons per acre, 0.30 ton per acre above last year. All other hay production totaled 1.35 million tons from 730,000 acres harvested, up 212,000 tons from 2018. The average yield of 1.85 tons per acre is 0.20 ton per acre above last year. New seedings of alfalfa and alfalfa mixtures in Colorado are estimated at 80,000 acres, down 6 percent from 2018.

As of December 1, producers in Colorado were storing 2.00 million tons of all hay, up 14 from the 1.75 million tons stored last year.

All sunflower production is estimated at 59.40 million pounds from 55,000 acres harvested. Yield is estimated at 1,080 pounds per acre, down from the 1,106 pounds attained last year. Production of oil varieties decreased 18 percent from the previous year to 44.00 million pounds and production of non-oil varieties increased 91 percent from the previous year to 15.40 million pounds.

The state’s sugarbeet crop of 749,000 tons for 2019 is down 10 percent from the 831,000 tons produced in 2018. Producers harvested 24,400 acres in 2019, down from 25,500 acres in 2018. Average yield is estimated at 30.7 tons per acre, 1.9 tons per acre below 2018.

Colorado potato growers produced an estimated 19.22 million hundredweight of potatoes this year, down 12 percent from last year’s crop. Potatoes produced in the San Luis Valley totaled 17.95 million hundredweight compared with 20.12 million hundredweight produced last year. Potatoes grown in all other areas in Colorado totaled 1.27 million hundredweight compared with 1.60 million

hundredweight last year. Average yield, at 376 hundredweight per acre, decreased 19 hundredweight per acre from the combined yield attained last year. The harvested area, estimated at 51,100 acres is down from the 55,000 acres harvested last year.

Dry edible bean production is set at 623,000 hundredweight, 4 percent below the 2018 crop of 647,000 hundredweight. Average yield is estimated at 1,840 pounds per acre, 280 pounds per acre below last year. Harvested area, at 33,800 acres, is 3,300 acres more than last year.

Winter wheat seedings last fall for the 2020 crop year are estimated at 1.90 million acres, down 12 percent from last year.  If realized, this would be the lowest winter wheat seeded acreage in Colorado since 1.71 million acres were seeded in 1945.