LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky farmers expect to harvest 27.4 million bushels of winter wheat during 2021 according to the Kentucky Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The expected crop for 2021 would be up 28% from the previous year. Farmers seeded 530,000 acres last fall with 365,000 acres to be harvested for grain. Based on crop conditions as of May 1 and assuming a normal growing season, farmers expect a yield of 75.0 bushel per acre, up 12.0 bushels from 2020. Acres for other uses totaled 165,000 acres and will be used as cover crop for tobacco or cut as silage or hay.
**As of May 9, winter wheat was rated 2% poor, 13% fair, 61% good and 24% excellent. At this same date, crop progress was at 68% headed compared to 82% last year and 76% for the five-year average.**
“I’m cautiously optimistic about the yield potential of this year’s wheat crop,” said David Knopf, director of the NASS Eastern Mountain Regional Office in Kentucky. “A few bushels were probably lost due to earlier frost, but if the weather cooperates through harvest, I think producers will be satisfied.”
Winter wheat production for the Nation was forecast at 1.28 billion bushels, up 10% from 2020. The expected area to be harvested for grain or seed totals24.6 million acres, up7 % from last year. As of May 1, the U.S. yield was forecast at 52.1 bushels per acre, up 1.2 bushels from last year.
As of May 1, Kentucky on-farm hay stocks totaled 950,000 tons, up 325,000 from May 1, 2020 stocks. Farmers have used 75% of their hay stocks since December 1, 2020.
U. S. hay stocks were at 18.0 million tons, down 2.42 million tons from 2020
— USDA, NASS, Kentucky Field Office
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