PROSPECTIVE PLANTINGS – MARCH 1, 2023

COLORADO HIGHLIGHTS

As of March 1, Colorado growers intend to plant 1.40 million acres of corn for all purposes in 2023, up 50,000 acres, or 4 percent, from last year’s plantings, according to the March 1 Agricultural Survey conducted by the Mountain Regional Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA. Sorghum planting intentions total 510,000 acres, down 35,000 acres from last year. Growers intend to plant 65,000 acres of barley in 2023, up 4,000 acres from last year’s actual plantings.
Winter wheat seeded last fall for harvest in 2023 is estimated at 2.25 million acres, up 300,000 acres, or 15 percent, from the 2022 crop. Hay producers in the State intend to harvest 1.35 million acres this year. This is up 210,000 acres from the acreage cut for hay in 2022. Growers intend to plant 34,000 acres of sunflowers this year, down 28,000 acres from what they planted in 2022. If realized, this would represent the lowest sunflower acreage on record. The acreage of oil varieties is expected to total 22,000 acres, down 30,000 acres  from last year’s plantings. The area for non-oil varieties is expected to be up 2,000 acres to 12,000 acres this year.

The area planted to sugarbeets is expected to be down 400 acres from last year’s actual plantings to 23,000 acres. Dry edible bean acreage is expected to total 38,000 acres, up 3,000 acres, or 9 percent, from the acres planted in 2022. As of March 30, mountain snowpack was 138 percent of median, statewide. Final acreages actually planted for several crops will be determined by irrigation water prospects, soil moisture levels at planting time, and changes in economic conditions between now and actual planting.