Corn, Soybeans Suffer in Drought Year; Winter Wheat Seedings Down
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Production of corn and soybeans in South Dakota was down last year, during a year in which much of the state was mired in extreme drought.
The Agriculture Department says the state's corn crop totaled 535.3 million bushels, down 18 percent from 2011. Soybean production totaled 141.3 million bushels, down 6 percent over the year.
Sunflower and dry edible bean production was up in South Dakota, but production of hay, sorghum and millet was down.
Meanwhile, winter wheat seedings in the Dakotas are down this year.
The Agriculture Department says farmers in South Dakota last fall planted 1.2 million acres, down about 9 percent from the previous year. North Dakota farmers planted 400,000 acres, down from the 2012 crop of 750,000 acres. Most farmers in North Dakota typically plant spring wheat.
Nationwide, winter wheat seeded for harvest this year is projected to total just under 42 million acres, an increase of 1 percent.
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