Contracted Processing Production Up 8 Percent from Last Year

Sep 06, 2013

Asparagus Production Down 10 Percent
Strawberry Production Down 3 Percent
Onion Harvested Area Down 3 Percent

Contracted Processing Production Up 8 Percent from Last Year

Production of the 2012 asparagus crop is forecast at 759,000 cwt, down 10 percent from 2011. Area harvested, at 25,300 acres, is down 7 percent from last year. Fresh production, at 626,000 cwt, is down 7 percent from 2011. Processed production, at 6,650 tons, is down 22 percent from last year.

Strawberry production in the United States is forecast at 27.7 million cwt, down 3 percent from 2011. Area harvested, at 49,300 acres, is down 1 percent from last year. Strawberry yield is forecast at 561 cwt per acre, down 9 cwt from 2011.

Onion growers expect to harvest 143,550 acres in 2012, down 3 percent from last year. Spring onion growers intend to harvest 24,900 acres, down 16 percent from last season. Summer, non-storage onion growers expect to harvest 18,800 acres, unchanged from a year ago. Storage onion growers plan to harvest 99,850 acres in 2012, up 1 percent from last season.

The 2012 contracted processing vegetable production for the four major processing crops (snap beans, sweet corn, green peas, and tomatoes) is forecast at 17.2 million tons, up 8 percent from last year. Production of processing tomatoes, at 13.5 million tons, is up 9 percent from last year. Snap bean production, at 672,370 tons, is up slightly from last year's production. Sweet corn production, at 2.70 million tons, is up 3 percent from last year. Green pea production, at 350,490 tons, is 19 percent above 2011. Contracted area for harvest of the four major processing vegetable crops, at 955,550 acres, is 5 percent above 2011.

Source: USDA