Posted: 01.13.2010

Wisconsin farmers planted 3.85 million acres to corn in 2009, a 50,000 acre increase from the previous year. Of those acres planted, 2.93 million were harvested for grain with a record yield of 153.0 bushels per acre. The previous record yield was set in 2005 at 148.0 bushels per acre. This year’s corn crop produced 448 million bushels, a state record production level. Silage area harvested decreased 25,000 acres, dropping to 850,000 acres in 2009. Corn silage acres yielded 16.0 tons per acre for 2009, down 1.5 tons from last year and the same yield as 2007. Silage production was 13.6 million tons this season, down from 15.3 million tons in 2008.

Soybean acres planted in Wisconsin increased 20,000 acres to 1.63 million acres in 2009. Area of soybeans harvested for beans was 1.62 million acres in 2009, up from 1.59 million acres the previous year. Statewide soybean yield was 40.0 bushels per acre, up 5.0 bushels from 2008.

In Wisconsin, area seeded to winter wheat in the fall of 2008 was 335,000 acres, a decrease of 15,000 from a year earlier. Statewide, farmers harvested 315,000 acres for grain, a 6 percent decrease from the previous year. Yield increased 2.0 bushels per acre from 2008 to reach 68.0 bushels per acre. The increase in yield helped offset the decrease in acres planted and harvested. As a result, production was 21.4 million bushels, a decrease of only 3 percent from the state record production set in 2008.

Wisconsin farmers harvested 1.55 million acres of alfalfa or alfalfa mixture dry hay in 2009, up 50,000 acres from 2008. Yield dropped from 2.70 tons per acre in 2008, to 2.50 tons per acre in 2009. Alfalfa and alfalfa mixture dry hay production was 3.88 mil-lion tons in 2009, down from 4.05 million tons a year earlier. Alfalfa haylage or greenchop was harvested from 1.40 million acres in Wisconsin during 2009, same as 2008. Yield (green weight) was 5.90 tons per acre, down from 6.70 tons per acre a year ago. Alfalfa haylage or greenchop production was 8.26 million tons statewide, down 12 percent from 2008.

All other hay harvested as dry hay accounted for 370,000 acres in Wisconsin during 2009, a 30,000 acre decline from 2008. Yield was 1.50 tons per acre, down from 1.90 tons per acre in 2008. Production of all other hay harvested as dry hay totaled 555,000 tons in 2009, compared to 760,000 tons a year ago.

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