The following is portion of an article from Ag Web:
by Sara Schafer, AgWeb.com Business and Crops Online Editor
Farmers in North and South Dakota have options. Their land is fit to grow corn, soybeans, wheat, canola, barley, sunflowers, flaxseed or sorghum. Yet, with all of these options, corn has surfaced as the crop of choice in South Dakota and is in the top three in North Dakota.
In 2013, North Dakota farmers dedicated 7.65 million acres to wheat (all varieties), 4.9 million acres to soybeans and 4.1 million acres to corn. Canola claimed 1.2 million acres, followed by barley which took up 950,000 acres. Dry edible beans, sunflowers, sugarbeets and flaxseed also grabbed a significant amount of acres.
South Dakota farmers planted 5.9 million acres of corn, 4.6 million acres of soybeans and 2.3 million acres of wheat in 2013. Sunflowers and sorghum are the other major crops produced in the state.
This year’s brutal winter has left fields in the Dakotas frozen rock-hard. Soil temperatures are cold so depending on the weather in the next few weeks, soil temperature could affect when planting occurs, says Joel Ransom, Extension agronomist with North Dakota State University. He says even with below normal snowfall, soil moisture is adequate due to lots of rain.
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Source: AgWeb
Posted by Haylie Shipp
