| Current Poll |
Are you keeping your New Year's resolutions?
View Results
|
|
Story Archives: High corn yields expected in parish
- 2013 - 334 articles
- 2012 - 1160 articles
- 2011 - 1177 articles
- 2010 - 810 articles
- 2009 - 779 articles
- 2008 - 949 articles
|
High corn yields expected in parish
The yields for corn — Franklin Parish's chief crop — are expected to be good this year despite a drought that has plagued production, according to LSU AgCenter officials.
The AgCenter reports that there were more than 7,900 acres of corn grown in Franklin Parish in 2009, with 160 bushels per-acre yields.
With the harvest soon to begin, there will be at least that much grown in Franklin Parish this year, said Carol Pinnell-Alison of the LSU AgCenter.
"It still looks like we are going to have a pretty good yield, even with the dry weather and the heat," she said. "We are not expecting a bumper crop, but it will be good."
While tallies won't be gathered until later in the year, after harvest, fields in Franklin Parish normally average 150 bushels overall.
This year's estimates are 165 bushels, said Pinnell-Alison.
The United States Department of Agriculture reported 80.5 million bushels of corn for grain was produced in Louisiana in 2009.
Dry weather continues to hamper cotton production, which continues to fall in Franklin Parish.
AgCenter surveys estimate the parish will produce about 6,600 acres of cotton this season — down from around 12,000 acres that were grown last year.
It is expected to be the second consecutive year that Franklin Parish cotton production has dropped 40 percent to 50 percent from production in the previous year.
While falling prices and a rise in production costs were blamed for last year's downturn, agriculture officials blame dry weather for his year's low numbers
Statewide, cotton production was down 23 percent from 2008 to 2009, when 225,000 acres producing 725 pounds per-acre were grown in Louisiana.
Soybean production in Franklin Parish is expected to be about the same in 2010 as in 2009.
Last year, Franklin Parish grew 40,871 acres of soybeans, yielding 40 bushels per-acre, the AgCenter reports.
Rainfall in northeast Louisiana is about seven inches below normal levels by most recent measurements of the National Weather Service. |
|
|
E-mail Story
Print Story
