Kentucky farmers harvested
22.2 million bushels of winter wheat in the summer of
2009 according to the
Kentucky
Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics
Service. This was 32 percent below the record high
production during 2008.
A wet spring caused quality problems.
Rain during flowering promoted fusarium wilt growth which
reduced yields and lowered test weights for much of the crop.
Harvest was late due to wet weather, which caused some
lodging, further complicating harvest.
Farmers harvested
390,000 acres for grain. This was down 70,000 acres from 2008.
Yield was estimated at 57 bushels per acre, down 14 bushels
from the 2008 record high yield. Farmers seeded 510,000 acres
in the fall of 2008, down 70,000 acres from the previous year.
The 120,000 acres not harvested for grain were plowed down for
a cover crop prior to setting tobacco, cut as grain hay,
chopped as grain silage or abandoned.
Production of all
wheat for the U.S. totaled 2.22 billion bushels in
2009, up 2 percent from the August forecast but down 11
percent from 2008. Grain area was 50.1 million acres, down 10
percent from last year. The yield was 44.4 bushels per acre,
down 0.5 bushel from last year.
