Small Grains Report – jSeptember 1, 2023

COLORADO HIGHLIGHTS

Winter wheat production in Colorado, estimated at 74.62 million bushels, is up 108 percent from the 35.75-million-bushel crop produced in 2022, according to the September 1 Agricultural Survey conducted by the Mountain Regional Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA. Producers seeded 2.30 million acres in the fall of 2022 for harvest in 2023, up from the 1.95 million acres seeded for the previous year’s crop. Area harvested for grain increased 390,000 acres from last year to 1.82 million acres in 2023. Winter wheat yield, at 41.0 bushels per acre, is up 16.0 bushels from last year.
Colorado barley producers seeded 54,000 acres in 2023, down 7,000 acres or 11 percent from last year. Harvested area, at 51,000 acres, is up 11,000 acres from 2022. Barley yield, at 131.0 bushels per acre, is up 20.0 bushels from last year. Barley production is estimated at 6.68 million bushels, up 50 percent from the 4.44-million-bushel crop produced in 2022.

UNITED STATES HIGHLIGHTS

All wheat production totaled 1.81 billion bushels in 2023, up 10 percent from the 2022 total of 1.65 billion bushels. Area harvested for grain totaled 37.3 million acres, up 5 percent from the previous year. The United States yield was estimated at 48.6 bushels per acre, up 2.1 bushels from the previous year. The levels of production and changes from 2022 by type were: winter wheat, 1.25 billion bushels, up 13 percent; other spring wheat, 505 million bushels, up 5 percent; and Durum wheat, 59.3 million bushels, down 7 percent.

Winter wheat production for 2023 totaled 1.25 billion bushels, up 13 percent from the 2022 total of 1.10 billion bushels. The United States yield, at 50.6 bushels per acre, was up 3.6 bushels from 2022. Area harvested for grain was estimated at 24.7 million acres, up 5 percent from 2022. Compared with 2022, harvested acreage was up 2 percent in the major Hard Red Winter (HRW) growing States, the primary winter wheat-producing area. HRW production totaled 601 million bushels, up 13 percent from 2022. In the Soft Red Winter (SRW) growing area, planted and harvested acreage increased from 2022. Coupled with several States estimated record high yields, SRW production totaled 449 million bushels, up 34 percent from 2022. White winter wheat production totaled 198 million bushels, down 16 percent from 2022. Harvested acreage was down 3 percent from 2022.

Barley production was estimated at 185 million bushels, up 6 percent from the 2022 total of 175 million bushels. The average yield, at 72.4 bushels per acre, was up 0.8 bushel from the previous year. Producers seeded 3.10 million acres in 2023, up 5 percent from 2022.  Harvested area, at 2.56 million acres, was up 4 percent from 2022.

For a full copy of the Small Grains Summary report, please visit www.nass.usda.gov.