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Autumn Harvest Blend of Good, Bad for 2005 Crops

Posted on: Monday, 19 December 2005, 03:01 CST

By Arnold, Carroll

Signals for the 2005 harvest point to another successful year for area farmers, but there are enough bumps in the lane to slightly dampen enthusiasm for this year's crops.

In agriculture-rich Weld County, ranked seventh in the nation for farm output, and in Larimer County, it was a year of sufficient moisture, relatively good weather, decent yields, and prices that seemed to satisfy growers of most crops except corn and wheat.

Fred Petersen, Weld County Extension director, reported an excellent year for alfalfa and onions. "People I have talked to are mostly pleased. They always like the higher prices."

Winter wheat was 87 to 95 percent planted in early October. Petersen said the rain that fell Oct. 8-9 should be help with germination.

Wayne Rieger, Larimer County executive director of the Farm Service Agency, said as of Oct. 12 winter wheat and barley were just starting to be cut, with sugar beets next.

Most onions and potatoes have been harvested. Corn for grain remains in the field but the yields look good. Sunflower harvesting is yet to be completed, but Rieger said heads are good sized.

"We did have normal irrigation flow this year because of the snow pack," he observed.

Here is a crop-by-crop rundown for Northern Colorado:

Corn for grain

Mark Arnusch, vice president of the Colorado Corn Growers and a Keenesburg farmer, said it would be Oct. 29 before he gets back into the fields for sugar beets and corn.

"Corn is standing up well with the snow," he reported. "Yields should be very strong."

The cash price for corn, however, hovers at $2 per bushel, 50 cents below where it was last year.

"We may be above normal in yield, but the price certainly is going to hurt us," Arnusch said.

Another Northern Colorado corn grower, John Sullivan of Berthoud, said there are a few growers taking high-moisture corn, 20 to 30 percent.

He thinks the corn for grain yield will be average, 130 to 170 bushels per acre this year, up from the 136.5 bushels last year in Larimer.

"But the ears are filled out, not tipped back," according to Sullivan. "It's (the crop's) not a binbuster, but it's not a disaster either."

Onions

Onions this harvest year brought normal to near-normal yields and good quality, according to Wayne Miniger, executive vice president of the National Onion Association in Greeley.

"There is a good market this year. Last year we had bumper crops (in the U.S. and globally) and prices were under a lot of pressure" Miniger said.

Colorado onions were ranked sixth - in 2004 among the states, with a production value of $55 million, down from $80 million in 1998 but up from $43 million in 2001.

Chuck Bird, operations manager for Martin Produce in Greeley, said this region wrapped up onion harvest about Oct. 11 with average yields, average sizing and above-average prices.

Potatoes

In Weld County, potatoes are harvested, processed and sold, said Lola Mundt, executive director of the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee in Greeley. Some 416 acres of potatoes were processed for fresh markets, representing 114,000 cwt, or 11.4 million pounds.

"We are way down from last year," Mundt reported. "It has been reduced every year for five years. The price was good this year."

LaSalle farmer Harry Strohauer, who is in his 30th year of farming, grows 420 acres of potatoes, corn, wheat, hay and pinto beans. He cites good demand and good prices this year for his potatoes, but a late freeze in May and heat in July hurt the crop. Strohauer grows reds, russets, Yukons and specialty potatoes such as all-purples and all-reds.

"This has been a pretty good year. All our crops have given good yields, good prices, and we've had no trouble with the weather. This big rain (Oct. 8-9) was ideal for us planting wheat."

Wheat

It has been all downhill for the 2005 Colorado winter wheat crop since May 1, in the estimation of Darrell Hanavan, executive director of the Colorado Association of Wheat Growers and Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, he said, variously estimated the crop at 85.75 million bushels on May 12; 78.4 million bushels on June 10, 64.8 million bushels on July 12; and 52.8 million bushels on Sept. 30.

Hanavan pointed out the 2005 wheat crop estimate for the state. is up 15 percent from last year's 45.9 million bushels, but down 30 percent from the 10-year average of 75.54 million bushels. The final estimate of 52.8 million bushels this year is based on 2.2 million acres being harvested with an average yield of 24 bushels per acre.

"This is the fifth below-average winter wheat crop in six years," Hanavan said.

CAWG estimates the loss to Colorado winter wheat producers in 2005 at $61.1 million to $68.8 million.

"CAWG supports emergency disaster assistance for losses to agricultural commodities due to damaging weather or related conditions," Hanavan said.

Sugar beets

By Oct. 18, sugar beet growers had harvested only 10 percent of the crop, estimated David Blach of Yuma, president of Colorado Sugar Beet Growers.

Blach said sugar beet growers just got started again after the early October rains. Early digs started Oct. 3 and beets are processed. Regular harvest was originally scheduled to begin Oct. 10, but growers did not get back into fields until Oct. 14 after 3.5 inches of rain.

"The beets are fair, and sugar's gone up," Blach said. "But the rains may slow us down again." He expects "pretty good" yields, but they will be down from last year.

Higher fuel prices on freight and in-field costs are another negative growers are having to deal with in 2005.

Because of hurricane destruction of sugar cane crops and facilities in Louisiana, Randall Johnson, Colorado agricultural manager for Western Sugar in Greeley, anticipates higher prices this year.

Copyright Northern Colorado Business Review Nov 11, 2005

Source: Northern Colorado Business Report

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