COLORADO HIGHLIGHTS 

All wheat production in Colorado, estimated at 70.50 million bushels, is down 20 percent from 2017, according to the September 1 Agricultural Survey conducted by the Mountain Regional Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA. All wheat yield was 36.1 bushels per acre, down 7.1 bushels per acre from a year ago. 

Winter wheat producers seeded 2.25 million acres in the fall of 2017 for harvest in 2018, unchanged from the acres seeded for the previous year’s crop. Acreage harvested for grain decreased 70,000 acres from last year to 1.95 million acres in 2018. Winter wheat production is estimated at 70.20 million bushels, down 19 percent from last year. Winter wheat yield, at 36.0 bushels per acre, is down 7.0 bushels per acre from last year. 

Spring wheat seedings, at 10,000 acres, are unchanged from last year. Acreage harvested totaled a record low 4,000 acres, down from 9,000 acres harvested last year. Spring wheat production is estimated at a record low 304,000 bushels, down 59 percent from last year. The previous record low production was 340,000 bushels in 1968. Spring wheat yield, at 76.0 bushels per acre, is down 6.0 bushels per acre from last year. 

Oat seedings in Colorado totaled 95,000 acres, up 45,000 acres from last year, and the highest since 100,000 acres were seeded in 2003. Producers harvested 7,000 acres for grain or seed, down 2,000 acres from 2017. Oat production totaled a record low 350,000 bushels in 2018, down 40 percent from last year and 50,000 bushels below the previous record low production in 2002. Oat yield is 50.0 bushels per acre in 2018, down 15.0 bushels per acre from the previous year, and the lowest yield since 50.0 bushels per acre in 2002. 

Colorado’s barley seeded area, at 58,000 acres, is down 12,000 acres from last year. Harvested area, at 52,000 acres, is down 16,000 acres from 2017. Barley yield, at 145.0 bushels per acre is a record high, up 13.0 bushels per acre from last year and 10.0 bushels per acre above the previous record in 2009. Barley production in 2018 is estimated at 7.54 million bushels, down 16 percent from the previous year. 

UNITED STATES HIGHLIGHTS 

All wheat production totaled 1.88 billion bushels in 2018, up 8 percent from the revised 2017 total of 1.74 billion bushels. Area harvested for grain totaled 39.6 million acres, up 5 percent from the previous year. The United States yield was estimated at 47.6 bushels per acre, up 1.3 bushels from the previous year. The levels of production and changes from 2017 by type were: winter wheat, 1.18 billion bushels, down 7 percent; other spring wheat, 623 million bushels, up 50 percent; and Durum wheat, 77.3 million bushels, up 41 percent. 

Winter wheat production for 2018 totaled 1.18 billion bushels, down 7 percent from the 2017 total of 1.27 billion bushels. The United States yield, at 47.9 bushels per acre, was down 2.3 bushels from 2017. Area harvested for grain was estimated at a record low 24.7 million acres, down 2 percent from the previous year. Record high yields were estimated in Louisiana, Montana, and Nevada for 2018. 

Other spring wheat production for 2018 was estimated at 623 million bushels, up 50 percent from the revised 2017 total of 415 million bushels. Harvested area totaled 12.9 million acres, up 27 percent from 2017. The United States yield was estimated at a record high 48.3 bushels per acre, 7.3 bushels above 2017. Record high yields were estimated in Idaho and North Dakota for 2018. Of the total production, 587 million bushels were Hard Red Spring wheat, up 53 percent from the revised 2017 total. 

Oat production was estimated at 56.1 million bushels, up 14 percent from 2017. Yield was estimated at 64.9 bushels per acre, up 3.2 bushels from the previous year. Harvested area, at 865,000 acres, was 8 percent above last year. 

Barley production was estimated at 153 million bushels, up 8 percent from the 2017 total of 142 million bushels. Average yield per acre, at 77.4 bushels, was up 4.8 bushels from the previous year. Producers seeded 2.54 million acres in 2018, up 2 percent from last year. Harvested area, at 1.98 million acres, was up 1 percent from 2017.