Home » Kentucky 2020 wheat crop forecast is up 18% from 2019

Kentucky 2020 wheat crop forecast is up 18% from 2019

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kentucky farmers expect to harvest 29.6 million bushels of winter wheat during 2020, according to the Kentucky Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The expected crop for 2020 would be up 18% from the previous year.

Farmers seeded 540,000 acres last fall with 390,000 acres to be harvested for grain. Based on crop conditions as of May 1 and assuming a normal growing season, farmers expect a yield of 76.0 bushel per acre, unchanged from 2019. Acres for other uses totaled 150,000 acres and will be used as cover crop for tobacco or cut as silage or hay.

As of May 10, winter wheat was rated 1% very poor, 4% poor, 25% fair, 62% good and 8% excellent. At this same date, crop progress was at 83% headed compared to 72% last year and 74% for the five-year average.

Winter wheat production for the Nation was forecast at 1.25 billion bushels, down 4% from 2019. The expected area to be harvested for grain or seed totals 24.3 million acres, down slightly from last year. As of May 1, the U.S. yield was forecast at 51.7 bushels per acre, down 1.9 bushels from last year.