Corn, Cotton Expected To Make Big Production Gains In 2016

Georgia corn production is expected to increase by more than 30 percent and cotton production is projected to increase by 15 percent according to the August Crop Production report from the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

The state's corn growers are projected to produce slightly more than 63 million bushels in 2016, a 30.6 percent increase over 2015, when they produced 48.7 million bushels.

Georgia cotton growers increased acreage in 2016 over 2016 levels and are expected to produce 2.6 million bales, an increase of 15.2 percent over their 2015 production. Growers planted about 170,000 more acres this year.

The state's peach production is expected to finish at 43,000 tons, a 6 percent increase over 2015, when Georgia peach growers produced 40,600 tons.

Georgia production of hay, peanuts, soybeans and tobacco are all expected to decline from 2015 levels.
The state's peanut growers trimmed acreage and are forecast to produce 3.375 billion pounds, down from 3.473 billion pounds in 2015, a decline of 2.8 percent.

Soybean production in 2016 is projected at 10.2 million bushels, a decline of 24.6 percent from 2015, when the state's farmers produced 13.5 million bushels. Planted acres are down 18 percent.