LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky farmers expect to harvest 28.1 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 31 % from the previous year. The forecast was based on crop conditions as of June 1 and increased 3 % from the May forecast. Growers expect a yield of 77.0 bushels per acre, up 14.0 bushels from 2020 and up 2.0 bushels from May. Farmers seeded 530,000 acres last fall with 365,000 acres to be harvested for grain. Acres for other uses totaled 165,000 acres and will be used as cover crop for tobacco or cut as silage or hay.
“Wheat yields may have benefitted in May from cooler than normal temperatures, and in spite of drier than normal conditions”, said David Knopf, director of the NASS Eastern Mountain Regional Office in Kentucky. “The forecasted yield would be the second highest on record and best since 2017.” Harvest in the Commonwealth normally runs from early June to early July. Winter wheat production for the Nation was forecast at 1.31 billion bushels, up 2 % from the May 1 forecast and up 12 % from 2020. Based on June 1 conditions, the United States yield is forecast at 53.2 bushels per acre, up 1.1 bushels from last month and up 2.3 bushels from last year. The expected area to be harvested for grain or seed totals 24.6 million acres, up 7 % from last year.
— USDA, NASS, Kentucky Field Office
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