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MSRPC Blog

Good Yields, Good Production Year, USDA Reports

January 12, 2016 / Categories: Uncategorized

Favorable weather helped Upper Midwest farmers produce some of their best crops last year, a new U.S. Department of Agriculture report says.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service, an agency of the USDA, released its 2015 crop production report Jan. 12. It shows generally strong yields and overall production for most crops, though some crops fell short of their numbers in 2014, which also benefited from generally good weather.

Here’s a look at 2015 production and yields in the Upper Midwest, beginning with the region’s three major crops — corn, wheat and soybeans — and ending with some other crops of which the Upper Midwest is a top producer.

Soybeans:

  • Minnesota: 50 bushels per acre and 377.5 million bushels, up from 41.5 bushels per acre and 301 million bushels in 2014.

  • South Dakota: 46 bushels per acre and 235.5 million bushels, up from 45 bushels per acre and 230 million bushels in 2014.

  • North Dakota: 32.5 bushels per acre and 185.9 million bushels, down from 34.5 bushels per acre and 202.5 million bushels in 2014.

Corn:

  • North Dakota: 128 bushels per acre and 327.7 million bushels, up from 124 bushels per acre and 313 million bushels in 2014.

  • South Dakota: 159 bushels per acre and 800 million bushels, up from 148 bushels per acre and 787 million bushels in 2014.

  • Minnesota: 188 bushels per acre and 1.43 billion bushels, up from 156 bushels per acre and 1.17 billion bushels in 2014.

All wheat:

  • North Dakota: 46.7 bushels per acre and 370 million bushels, up from 46.3 bushels per acre and 347 million bushels in 2014.

  • Montana: 35.2 bushels per acre and 185.5 million bushels, down from 37.1 bushels per acre and 209.5 million bushels in 2014.

  • South Dakota: 46.2 bushels per acre and 103.4 million bushels, down from 55.5 bushels per acre and 131.2 million bushels in 2014.

  • Minnesota: 59.9 bushels per acre and 88.3 million bushels, up from 54.8 bushels per acre and 66.4 million bushels in 2014.

Barley:

  • North Dakota: 64 bushels per acre, down from 67 bushels per acre in 2014. But a big increase in barley acres caused production to soar to 67.2 million bushels per acre from 35.9 million bushels in 2014.

  • Montana: 58 bushels per acre and 44.2 million bushels, down from 52 bushels per acre and 44.6 million bushels in 2014.

Canola:

  • North Dakota: 1,780 pounds per acre, down slightly from 1,800 pounds per acre in 2014.  But more canola acres in 2015 caused production to rise to 2.5 billion pounds from 2.14 billion pounds in 2014.

Sorghum:

  • South Dakota: 83 bushels per acre and 18.2 million bushels, up from 63 bushels per acre and 9.4 million bushels in 2014.

Sunflowers:

  • South Dakota: 1,858 pounds per acre and 1.23 billion pounds, up from 1,679 pounds per acre and 876.6 million bushels in 2014.

  • North Dakota: 1,523 pounds per acre and 1.06 billion pounds, up from 1,306 pounds per acre and 847.4 million pounds in 2014.

Edible beans:

  • North Dakota: 1,400 pounds per acre, down from 1,430 in 2013. But increased acres caused production to rise to 8.9 million hundredweight from 8.8 million hundredweight in 2014.

  • Minnesota: 2,140 pounds per acre and 3.9 million hundredweight, up from 1,950 pounds per acre and 2.9 million hundredweight in 2014.

Potatoes:

  • North Dakota: 340 hundredweight per acre and 27.2 million hundredweight, up from 310 hundredweight per acre and 23.8 million hundredweight in 2014.

  • Minnesota: 400 hundredweight per acre, unchanged from 2014. Production dipped to 16.2 million hundredweight from 16.4 million hundredweight in 2014.

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