CROP PRODUCTION – MAY 1, 2023

COLORADO HIGHLIGHTS

Winter wheat production in Colorado, based on conditions as of May 1, 2023, is forecast at 49.50 million bushels, according to the May 1 Agricultural Yield Survey conducted by the Mountain Regional Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA. This forecast is 38 percent above last year’s production of 35.75 million bushels, but 29 percent below the 69.56-million-bushel crop produced two years ago. Harvested area, forecast at 1.65 million acres, is 220,000 acres above last year. Average yield is forecast at 30.0 bushels per acre, up 5.0 bushels per acre from last year’s yield. Final yield will largely be determined by a combination of moisture and temperature conditions during May and June.  As of April 30, Colorado’s winter wheat crop condition was rated 10 percent very poor, 27 percent poor, 35 percent fair, 24 percent good, and 4 percent excellent, compared with 23 percent very poor, 34 percent poor, 31 percent fair, and 12 percent good last year.  Hay stocks on Colorado farms and ranches as of May 1, 2023, totaled a record low 170,000 tons, down 71 percent from stocks of 580,000 tons on hand last year. Hay production for 2022 totaled 2.75 million tons, 39 percent lower than production in 2021, and also a record low. Disappearance from December 1, 2022 – May 1, 2023, was 1.18 million tons, compared with 1.42 million tons during the
same period a year earlier.

UNITED STATES HIGHLIGHTS

Winter wheat production is forecast at 1.13 billion bushels, up 2 percent from 2022. As of May 1, the United States yield is forecast at 44.7 bushels per acre, down 2.3 bushels from last year’s average yield of 47.0 bushels per acre. Area expected to be harvested for grain or seed is forecast at 25.3 million acres, up 8 percent from last year. Hard Red Winter production, at 514 million bushels, is down 3 percent from a year ago. Soft Red Winter, at 406 million bushels, is up 21 percent from 2022. White Winter, at 210 million bushels, is down 11 percent from last year. Of the White Winter production, 10.2 million bushels are Hard White and 200 million bushels are Soft White.  All hay stored on United States farms as of May 1, 2023, totaled 14.5 million tons, down 13 percent from May 1, 2022. The May 1 hay stock level for the United States represents the second lowest amount stored since records began in 1950. Disappearance from December 1, 2022 – May 1, 2023, totaled 57.4 million tons, down 8 percent from the same period a year earlier.

For a full copy of the Crop Production report, please visit www.nass.usda.gov.