1998 Corn, Soybean
Harvests Were Huge

WASHINGTON —(AP)— Favorable weather helped produce record soybean and large corn crops last year, but a drouth followed by fierce storms hurt cotton production, the U.S. Agriculture Department reported last week.

Soybean production for 1998 totaled 2.76 billion bushels, the highest on record. Last year's figures are three percent higher than in 1997, which had set the previous record with 2.69 billion bushels.

Corn also had a good year with production estimated at 9.76 billion bushels, up six percent from the 1997 crop. Last year's corn crop ranks second behind the record 10.1 billion bushels produced in 1994.

But while soybeans and corn had good years, the 1998 wheat crop, which included varieties harvested in both spring and fall, is estimated at 2.55 billion bushels, down slightly from earlier estimates but still three percent higher than in 1997. Most of the production decline was in hard red winter wheat.

Those numbers may not improve in the coming year, either. In a separate report, the Agriculture Department said the area planted in winter wheat this year is expected to total 43.4 million acres, down seven percent from 1998 and the smallest since 1972.

Hard red winter wheat planting areas are down about five percent. Most states have planted less wheat, except for Nebraska, Texas, Minnesota and New Mexico. Montana's planted area for 1999 is the smallest since 1937.

Farmers selling wheat, soybeans and corn were hit hard last year by low prices. Corn prices, for instance, were averaging $1.80 to $2.20 compared to $2.43 in 1997 and $2.71 in 1996. Likewise, soybeans, which had gotten $7.35 in 1996, got around $5.15 last year.

The price crisis led Congress late last year to pass a $7 billion emergency aid package to help farmers. Lawmakers have vowed in the coming year to strengthen crop insurance as a way to further protect farmers.

In other areas last year, cotton production was 13.7 million bales, significantly lower than the 18.7 million bales of 1997.

Many cotton states were hit first by drouth and high temperatures, followed by two tropical storms and a hurricane.

Sorghum continued a decline that started in 1997 by finishing out last year with an estimated 520 million bushels, 18 percent below the previous year.