Winter wheat production in Colorado, based on conditions as of May 1, 2022, is forecast at 49.60 million bushels, according to the May 1 Agricultural Yield Survey conducted by the Mountain Regional Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA. This forecast is 29 percent below last year’s production of 69.56 million bushels but 21 percent above the 41.04 million bushel crop produced two years ago. Acreage for harvest, forecast at 1.60 million acres, is 280,000 acres less than a year ago. Average yield is forecast at 31.0 bushels per acre, down 6.0 bushels per acre from last year’s yield. Final yield will largely be determined by the combination of moisture and temperature conditions during May and June. 

As of May 1, Colorado’s winter wheat crop condition was rated 23 percent very poor, 34 percent poor, 31 percent fair, and 12 percent good, compared with 14 percent very poor, 17 percent poor, 37 percent fair, 28 percent good, and 4 percent excellent last year. 

Hay stocks on Colorado farms and ranches as of May 1, 2022 totaled 580,000 tons, up 152 percent from stocks of 230,000 tons on hand last year. Hay production for 2021 was 4.49 million tons, 36 percent higher than 2020 production. Disappearance from December 1, 2021 to May 1, 2022 was 1.42 million tons, compared with 1.47 million tons the same period a year earlier.