RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service has released the forecast winter wheat yield for 2017.
Virginia farmers seeded 190,000 acres last fall with 135,000 acres to be harvested for grain. Acres for other uses totaled 55,000 acres and will be used as cover crop for tobacco or cut as silage or hay.
Growers expect a yield of 64.0 bushels per acre, up 11.0 bushels from 2016 and unchanged from the May 1 forecast. This is 15.1 bushels higher than the national average yield of 48.9 bushels. The forecast was based on crop conditions as of June 1.
All reports are available on the NASS website: nass.usda.gov/Publications/Calendar/reports_by_date.php. For more information about Virginia surveys and reports, call the NASS Virginia Field Office at 800-772-0670, or visit nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Virginia/.
— Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services