Final tally for fall crops shows strong gains in 2014

Last year was a strong one in Kansas for the crops harvested during the fall, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Corn and milo production both increased by double digits, even though fewer acres were harvested. Timely rains and relatively temperate weather combined to push yields higher for the state’s farmers.

Nationwide, the USDA data showed farmers brought in record corn and soybean crops last fall.

The agency says in reports released Monday that farmers harvested a record 14.2 billion bushels of corn. That is 3 percent more than the 2013 crop, which had set the previous record. The average bushel-per-acre yield is 171, significantly better than the 158 bushels per acre in 2013.

Soybean production also is a record at 3.97 billion bushels, up 18 percent from 2013. Farmers harvested a record 83.1 million acres in 2014.

Here are the figures for Kansas’ fall crops:

▪ Corn, 566 million bushels, up 12 percent from 2013. The yield of 149 bushels per acre was up 23 bushels from 2013, while the 3.8 million acres harvested was down 5 percent from 2013.

▪ Grain sorghum, 200 million bushels, up 19 percent. The yield of 74 bushels per acre was up 15 bushels, while the 2.7 million acres harvested was down 5 percent.

▪ Soybeans,143 million bushels, up 9 percent. The yield of 36 bushels per acre was down 1 bushel from a year earlier, while the 3.96 million acres harvested was up 12 percent.

▪ Alfalfa, used as livestock feed, 2.28 million tons, up 18 percent. The yield of 3.8 tons per acre was up 0.30 ton per acre, while the 600,000 acres area harvested as dry hay was up 9 percent.

▪ Oil sunflower, 58 million pounds, down 1 percent. The yield of 1,370 pounds per acre was up 210 pounds, while the record low 42,000 acres harvested was down 16 percent.

▪ Non-oil sunflower, 34 million pounds, up 42 percent. The yield of 2,000 pounds per acre was up 400 pounds, while the 17,000 acres harvested was up 13 percent.

▪ Dry edible bean, 118,000 hundredweight, up 37 percent. The yield of 1,710 pounds per acre was down 80 pounds, while the 6,900 acres harvested was up 44 percent.

▪ Cotton, 52,000 bales, up 27 percent. The record yield of 861 pounds per acre was up 104 pounds, while the 29,000 acres harvested was up 12 percent.

▪ Potatoes, 1.39 million hundredweight, down 7 percent. The yield of 340 hundredweight per acre was down 10 hundredweight, while the 4,100 acres harvested was down 200 acres.

Contributing: Associated Press

This story was originally published January 12, 2015 at 3:17 PM with the headline "Final tally for fall crops shows strong gains in 2014."