By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The planting season is here and state growers are looking to seed more corn and soybeans and harvest more wheat than a year ago. That should come as no surprise considering grain prices. Last year corn and soybeans led the way in Kentucky crop production, followed by hay, tobacco and wheat. State crops all together were valued at $2.27 billion in 2010.

A report issued by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Kentucky field office notes that farmers intend to plant 1.4 million acres of corn in 2011, an increase of 60,000 acres from last year. This is in line with national planting intentions and would be the largest amount of corn-planted acres in the state since 2007.

Soybean planting is expected to be the highest in more than 25 years, with 1.48 million acres, an increase of 80,000 acres over 2010. This is somewhat in contrast with the national trend showing a slight decrease in soybean planting intentions.

According to information from the American Soybean Assoc. (ASA), soybeans and soybean products are the country’s number-one export commodity. Last year, the United States exported a record-setting $23 billion in soybeans, soybean oil and meal. The ASA also reported Japan is a top market for U.S. soybean products, surpassed only by China and Mexico. Chad Lee, a grain crops extension specialist with the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture, said it is this demand leading the way for increased soybean production.

“I think the demand in China is pushing that some, along with the overall demand domestically, and I think the same is true on the corn side,” he said. “Stocks are fairly low and it has created a market where both of those are in high demand.”

Grain stocks are low here and across the country. Corn stocks in Kentucky are off by as much as 18 percent from 2010 levels, as of March, according to the latest NASS information. Planting in the western part of the state has already started and should continue at a good pace as long as the weather cooperates, noted Lee. The only problem, he said, would be getting out in the fields before they are dry enough. “Compaction will be a big issue right now and it has been relatively cool, although there’s something pretty warm coming up. We’re still not completely out of the woods as far as a freeze event coming in,” Lee said. “But from a calendar standpoint, now is a good time to start.”

He added it would be good to stay on top of weed control right now, as well.
Leland Brown, director of the NASS Kentucky office, said he was a bit surprised to see the large increase in soybeans as well as the high numbers for winter wheat. Last fall’s seeded winter wheat acres totaled 540,000, an increase of 38 percent from the previous year – and while the grain outlook seems promising, all news wasn’t good as this looks to be the smallest burley tobacco crop ever.

“We’re coming in right now at 67,000 acres, that’s what we are projecting for harvest, and that is down 5,000 acres from last year. That is probably the lowest we’ve had for burley tobacco and our records go back to 1919,” he said.
“It’s been in that 70,000-acre range for the last few years, but we will know for sure in June what will really happen.”

Brown added these early projections are sometimes affected by many things and it will not be until the June report that we know exactly where crop numbers stand.

Coming off a tough 2010 growing year in which spring floods and summer drought wreaked havoc with crops, farmers are hoping for better this year. With the exception of tobacco, if planting intentions and weather hold, producers could be looking at a high production year in 2011.