Alabama row crop farmers experienced a little bit of everything in the 2013 harvest, according to Mary Johnson of the Alabama Farmers Federation.
Corn production increased 51 percent over 2012, and farmers averaged a harvest of 148 bushels per acre. “The corn harvest was one of the largest on record, ” Johnson said. “Timely rain when corn needed it most resulted in strong, healthy plants. That same rain was too much for cotton and peanuts, which both thrive in more arid conditions.”
Overall, soybean production was up 21 percent, with Alabama farmers reporting harvests of almost 100, 000 more acres of the crop than in 2012, though year-to-year yields were flat.
Farmers anticipated a smaller peanut crop overall because 2012 was a record year, and they planted fewer acres of the crop in 2013. Alabama farmers harvested 81, 000 fewer acres of peanuts in 2013 and the yields fell 44 percent.
Cotton yields in 2013 fell 26 percent as cotton farmers averaged 736 pounds per acre this year, compared to 946 pounds per acre in 2012.
Text by Dave Helms
