Analysis of the U.S. Crop Production report released Oct. 10 confirms that ongoing drought in California is reducing agricultural production, said Brad Rippey, meteorologist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Chief Economist. “Although this list is far from complete, and does not include many specialty crops, it’s obvious that the drought is having an effect on agricultural output mainly due to lower planted and harvested acreage,” he said.
Corn
2013 planted: 600,000 acres
2014 planted: 520,000 acres
2013 harvested: 180,000 acres
2014 harvested: 110,000 acres
2013 production: 35.1 million bushels
2014 production: 17.6 million bushels – down 50%
Upland Cotton
2013 harvested: 92,000 acres
2014 harvested: 59,000 acres
2013 production: 333,000 (480-lb) bales
2014 production: 220,000 (480-lb) bales – down 34%
Rice
2013 harvested: 561,000 acres
2014 harvested: 428,000 acres
2013 production: 47.6 million cwt
2014 production: 36.4 million cwt – down 24%
Hay (not including alfalfa)
2013 harvested: 540,000 acres
2014 harvested: 440,000 acres
2013 production: 1.836 million tons
2014 production: 1.496 million tons – down 19%
Pecans
2013 production: 5.0 million lbs.
2014 production: 4.2 million lbs. – down 16%