Agribusiness: Drought continues, but some crops do better

Recent rains helped some of the region?s crops, while others wait in vain for moisture that never came.
Northern Colorado is still firmly in the grip of a five-year-long drought, but the situation improves with every storm and every season that passes.
?The Colorado winter wheat crop projection is for 55 million bushels as of May 1 ? the first estimate of 2004,? said Darrell Hanavan, executive director of the Colorado Association of Wheat Growers and the Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee. ?That is 33 percent below last year but 49 percent above 2002?s 36.3 million bushels.?
Hanavan said dry planting conditions and below-average moisture and a lack of subsoil moisture have created a disappointing crop outlook. This year?s crop output is likely to be well below the 10-year average of winter wheat grown in the state of 76.6 million bushels. This year marks the fifth consecutive year for a below-average crop.
?In Colorado, 2.2 million acres were planted, and now 400,000 acres have been abandoned,? he said. ?That is about double the normal level of abandonment.?
For farmers looking to plant a drought-tolerant crop, wheat is a good bet because it is considered one of the most tolerant. Hanavan said up to 95 percent of the winter and spring wheat crop is planted as a dryland crop.
?The northeastern part of the state is in a better condition than in the eastern, central or southeastern part of the state,? he said. ?The condition gets progressively worse as you go from north to south.
Weld County is the largest hay, alfalfa and sugar-beet producer in the state. According to the 1997 agriculture census ? the most recent ? about 1.9 million of the county?s 2.5 million acres were being used as farm and ranch land. The county produced $1.2 billion in agricultural products that year.
Larimer County is quickly losing its agriculture presence, and according to the census, only 542,259 acres were being used as farm and ranch land. In 2003, the county ranked seventh in the state for barley, sugar beets and spring wheat.
Larimer County ranks 19th in corn for grain production, and Weld County holds the fifth-place rank. For area corn growers, the marketplace looks to embrace the corn they grow.
?The price looks good. It was up and down but it is back up to $5.50 a hundred ear,? said Loren Martin, a Windsor farmer and member of the Colorado Corn Growers Association.
He said the crop condition varies around the state ?But in our part some fields look good and are looking better every day,? he said.
Martin also grows sugar beets, pinto beans, wheat and alfalfa. He said his beets don?t look very good because late spring rains encouraged growth and the heat that followed cooked the sprouts.
Down in the Brighton area, the crops look good because the rain the area has received has been light instead of heavy or containing hail.
?The crops will continue to look good as long as the Platte River flows,? said Bob Sakata, president of Sakata Farms Inc. in Brighton.
?Mark my words, I am predicting a bumper crop,? he said.
Sakata grows sweet corn, broccoli, onions, cabbage and grains on his farm, which consists of scattered acreages in a 30-mile range.
?The rain we have received lately has been a blessing because it is light rain that doesn?t run off the land, which gives it time to soak in,? he said.
Sunflowers are gaining in popularity in Northern Colorado, surpassing the amount of sugar beets grown in Weld County. Growers are expecting increased profits this year because sunflower oil is earning historic prices.
?Sunflower doesn?t have its own futures market because it is a minor commodity, but it follows soybean oil, which is hitting historic highs,? said Ron Meyer, area extension agent for Colorado State University and acting executive director for the Colorado Sunflower Committee. ?Producers are selling sunflowers for 11 to 12 cents per pound during trading.?
Meyer said the dry weather is creating a short supply, which is helping increase the price received per pound.
?Stocks are in tight supply (because of the drought),? he said.

Kim Lock is the agriculture reporter for The Northern Colorado Business Report. To suggest column ideas, contact her at (970) 221-5400 ext. 222 or at klock@ncbr.com.