COLORADO HIGHLIGHTS 

The 2019 corn for grain crop is estimated at 159.90 million bushels, 3 percent above last year’s production of 154.70 million bushels, according to the December 1 Agricultural Survey conducted by the Mountain Regional Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA. The average yield of 123.0 bushels per acre is 7.0 bushels per acre below the yield realized last year. Area harvested for grain in 2019, at 1.30 million acres, is 110,000 acres above last year. Acreage cut for corn silage is estimated at 175,000 acres, down 15,000 acres from last year, with production estimated at 4.20 million tons, compared with 4.18 million tons produced last year. 

Sorghum for grain production is estimated at 12.71 million bushels, down 26 percent from the previous year. Average yield is estimated at 41.0 bushels per acre, down 12.0 bushels per acre from last year. Producers harvested 310,000 acres for grain, down 15,000 acres from last year’s area harvested. Acreage cut for sorghum silage is estimated at 18,000 acres, up 10,000 acres from last year, with production estimated at 306,000 tons compared with 112,000 tons produced last year. 

Colorado’s barley seeded area, at 54,000 acres, is down 6,000 acres from last year. Harvested area, at 52,000 acres, is down 1,000 acres from 2018. Barley yield, at 138.0 bushels per acre, is down 7.0 bushels per acre from last year. Barley production in 2019 is estimated at 7.18 million bushels, down 7 percent from the previous year. 

Winter wheat production in Colorado, estimated at 98.00 million bushels, is up 40 percent from 2018. Winter wheat producers seeded 2.150 million acres in the fall of 2018 for harvest in 2019, down from 2.25 million acres seeded for the previous year’s crop. Acreage harvested for grain increased 50,000 acres from last year to 2.00 million acres in 2019. Winter wheat yield, at a record 49.0 bushels per acre, is up 13.0 bushels per acre from last year, and 1.0 bushel above the previous record yield of 48.0 bushels per acre set in 2016. 

Proso millet production in the state is estimated at 11.84 million bushels, up from 7.56 million bushels produced last year. Farmers harvested 320,000 acres of proso millet, up 50,000 acres from the previous year. Yield increased 9.0 bushels per acre from last year to 37.0 bushels per acre. 

All hay production for 2019 is estimated at 4.05 million tons, up 12 percent from the 2018 total. Alfalfa hay production is estimated at 2.70 million tons from 730,000 acres harvested, up 219,000 tons from 2018. Average yield for the 2019 crop is 3.70 tons per acre, 0.30 ton per acre above last year. All other hay production totaled 1.35 million tons from 730,000 acres harvested, up 212,000 tons from 2018. The average yield of 1.85 tons per acre is 0.20 ton per acre above last year. New seedings of alfalfa and alfalfa mixtures in Colorado are estimated at 80,000 acres, down 6 percent from 2018. 

As of December 1, producers in Colorado were storing 2.00 million tons of all hay, up 14 from the 1.75 million tons stored last year. 

All sunflower production is estimated at 59.40 million pounds from 55,000 acres harvested. Yield is estimated at 1,080 pounds per acre, down from the 1,106 pounds attained last year. Production of oil varieties decreased 18 percent from the previous year to 44.00 million pounds and production of non-oil varieties increased 91 percent from the previous year to 15.40 million pounds. 

The state’s sugarbeet crop of 749,000 tons for 2019 is down 10 percent from the 831,000 tons produced in 2018. Producers harvested 24,400 acres in 2019, down from 25,500 acres in 2018. Average yield is estimated at 30.7 tons per acre, 1.9 tons per acre below 2018. 

Colorado potato growers produced an estimated 19.22 million hundredweight of potatoes this year, down 12 percent from last year’s crop. Potatoes produced in the San Luis Valley totaled 17.95 million hundredweight compared with 20.12 million hundredweight produced last year. Potatoes grown in all other areas in Colorado totaled 1.27 million hundredweight compared with 1.60 million hundredweight last year. Average yield, at 376 hundredweight per acre, decreased 19 hundredweight per acre from the combined yield attained last year. The harvested area, estimated at 51,100 acres is down from the 55,000 acres harvested last year. 

Dry edible bean production is set at 623,000 hundredweight, 4 percent below the 2018 crop of 647,000 hundredweight. Average yield is estimated at 1,840 pounds per acre, 280 pounds per acre below last year. Harvested area, at 33,800 acres, is 3,300 acres more than last year. 

Winter wheat seedings last fall for the 2020 crop year are estimated at 1.90 million acres, down 12 percent from last year. If realized, this would be the lowest winter wheat seeded acreage in Colorado since 1.71 million acres were seeded in 1945. 

UNITED STATES HIGHLIGHTS 

Corn for grain production in 2019 was estimated at 13.7 billion bushels, down 5 percent from the revised 2018 estimate. The average yield in the United States was estimated at 168.0 bushels per acre, 8.4 bushels below the 2018 yield of 176.4 bushels per acre. Area harvested for grain was estimated at 81.5 million acres, up less than 1 percent from the revised 2018 estimate. Corn silage production was estimated at 133 million tons for 2019, up 9 percent from the revised 2018 estimate. The United States silage yield was estimated at 20.2 tons per acre, up 0.3 ton from 2018. Area harvested for silage was estimated at 6.59 million acres, up 8 percent from the revised 2018 estimate. 

Sorghum grain production in 2019 was estimated at 341 million bushels, down 6 percent from the 2018 total. Planted area for 2019 was estimated at a record low 5.27 million acres, down 7 percent from the previous year. Area harvested for grain, at 4.68 million acres, was down 8 percent from 2018. Grain yield was estimated at 73.0 bushels per acre, up 0.9 bushel from 2018. Sorghum silage production was estimated at 4.02 million tons, up 21 percent from 2018. Area harvested for silage was estimated at 339,000 acres, up 28 percent from the previous year. Silage yield averaged 11.9 tons per acre, down 0.7 ton per acre from 2018. 

Barley production was estimated at 170 million bushels, up 10 percent from the 2018 total of 154 million bushels. The average yield, at 77.7 bushels per acre, was up 0.2 bushel from the previous year. Producers seeded 2.72 million acres in 2019, up 7 percent from 2018. Harvested area, at 2.18 million acres, was up 10 percent from 2018. 

All wheat production totaled 1.92 billion bushels in 2019, up 2 percent from the 2018 total of 1.89 billion bushels. Area harvested for grain totaled 37.2 million acres, down 6 percent from the previous year. The United States yield was estimated at 51.7 bushels per acre, up 4.1 bushels from the previous year. Winter wheat production for 2019 totaled 1.30 billion bushels, up 10 percent from the 2018 total of 1.18 billion bushels. The United States yield, at 53.6 bushels per acre, was up 5.7 bushels from 2018. Area harvested for grain was estimated at a record low 24.3 million acres, down 2 percent from the previous year. 

Production of proso millet in 2019 totaled 16.6 million bushels, up 43 percent from the revised 2018 production of 11.6 million bushels. Area planted to proso millet in the United States was estimated at 506,000 acres, up 63,000 acres from 2018. Area harvested in the United States, at 465,000 acres, was up 75,000 acres from the revised 2018 harvested estimate. The average yield for 2018 was estimated at 35.7 bushels per acre, up 6.0 bushels from 2018. 

Production of all dry hay for 2019 was estimated at 128.9 million tons, up 4 percent from the 2018 total. Area harvested was estimated at 52.4 million acres, down 1 percent from 2018. The average yield, at 2.46 tons per acre, was up 0.12 ton from the previous year. Production of alfalfa and alfalfa mixtures in 2019 was estimated at 54.9 million tons, up 4 percent from the 2018 total. Harvested area, at 16.7 million acres, was 1 percent above the previous year. Average yield was estimated at 3.28 tons per acre, up 0.11 ton from 2018. Production of all other hay in 2019 totaled 74.0 million tons, up 4 percent from the 2018 total. Harvested area, at 35.7 million acres, was down 2 percent from the previous year. Average yield was estimated at 2.07 tons per acre, up 0.11 ton from 2018. Growers seeded 2.47 million acres of alfalfa and alfalfa mixtures during 2019, up 11 percent from 2018. New seedings of alfalfa and alfalfa mixtures are normally harvested for the first time in the year following planting. 

All hay stored on United States farms as of December 1, 2019 totaled 84.5 million tons, up 7 percent from the previous December. Disappearance from May 1, 2019 - December 1, 2019 totaled 59.3 million tons, compared with 59.9 million tons for the same period a year earlier. 

The 2019 sunflower production totaled 1.94 billion pounds, down 8 percent from 2018. The United States average yield per acre of 1,562 pounds decreased 169 pounds from 2018. Planted area, at 1.35 million acres, was 4 percent above the previous year. Area harvested increased 2 percent from 2018 to 1.24 million acres. United States production of oil-type sunflower varieties, at 1.75 billion pounds, decreased 7 percent from 2018. Compared with the previous year, harvested acres were up 2 percent but the average yield decreased by 163 pounds to 1,562 pounds per acre. Production of non-oil sunflower varieties was estimated at 197 million pounds, a decrease of 10 percent from 2018. Area harvested, at 126,500 acres, was up 3 percent from 2018. The average yield decreased by 223 pounds from 2018 to 1,558 pounds per acre.

Sugarbeet production for 2019 was estimated at 28.6 million tons, down 14 percent from the previous year’s revised production. Growers in the 11 major sugarbeet-producing States planted 1.13 million acres, up 2 percent from the 2018 revised area. Harvested area, at 979,300 acres, was down 11 percent from the previous year. Estimated yield, at 29.2 tons per acre, was down 1.2 tons from last year. 

Production of potatoes in 2019 was estimated at 423 million cwt, down 2 percent from the 2018 crop for comparable States. The average yield, at 449 cwt per acre, was down 5 cwt for comparable States from the previous year. Planted acres, at 968,300 acres, was up 1 percent from last year for comparable States. Harvested area, at 942,200 acres, was down 1 percent for comparable States from the previous year. 

United States dry edible bean production was estimated at 20.8 million cwt for 2019, down 16 percent from the previous year for comparable States. Planted area was estimated at 1.29 million acres, up 7 percent from 2018 for comparable States. Harvested area was estimated at 1.18 million acres, up 1 percent from the previous year for comparable States. The average United States yield for dry edible beans for the 2019 season is 1,769 pounds per acre. 

Winter wheat planted area for harvest in 2020 is estimated at 30.8 million acres, down 1 percent from 2019 and down 5 percent from 2018. This represents the second lowest United States acreage on record.