COLORADO HIGHLIGHTS 

Winter wheat production in Colorado, based on conditions as of May 1, 2019, is forecast at 88.15 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 26 percent above last year’s production of 70.20 million bushels and 1 percent above the 86.86 million bushel crop produced two years ago. Acreage for harvest, forecast at 2.15 million acres, is 200,000 acres more than a year ago. Average yield is forecast at 41.0 bushels per acre, up 5.0 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 April 28, Colorado’s winter wheat crop condition was rated 2 percent poor, 22 percent fair, 60 percent good, and 16 percent excellent, compared with 6 percent very poor, 14 percent poor, 31 percent fair, 45 percent good, and 4 percent excellent last year. 

Hay stocks on Colorado farms and ranches as of May 1, 2019 totaled 300,000 tons, down 57 percent from stocks of 700,000 tons on hand last year. Hay production for 2018 was 3.62 million tons, 9 percent lower than 2017 production. Disappearance from December 1, 2018 to May 1, 2019 was 1.45 million tons, compared with 1.05 million tons the same period a year earlier. 

UNITED STATES HIGHLIGHTS 

Winter wheat production is forecast at 1.27 billion bushels, up 7 percent from 2018. As of May 1, the United States yield is forecast at 50.3 bushels per acre, up 2.4 bushels from last year’s average yield of 47.9 bushels per acre. 

Hard Red Winter production, at 780 million bushels, is up 18 percent from a year ago. Soft Red Winter, at 265 million bushels, is down 7 percent from 2018. White Winter, at 224 million bushels, is down 5 percent from last year. Of the White Winter production, 22.3 million bushels are Hard White and 201 million bushels are Soft White. 

All hay stored on United States farms, as of May 1, 2019, totaled 14.9 million tons, down 3 percent from a year ago. Disappearance from December 1, 2018 - May 1, 2019 totaled 64.1 million tons, compared with 69.1 million tons for the same period a year earlier. This marks the lowest May 1 hay stocks since the drought of 2012 and the second lowest since records began in 1950.