Alfalfa crop remains stable at 20.982 million acres

Although the number of acres dedicated to alfalfa and alfalfa mixes rose only 2,000 acres during the past year, yield on that acreage rose 3.4 percent, reveals data in the October 2009 Crop Production published by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). In all, there were 20.982 million acres of alfalfa in U.S. farm fields this past year. That land produced 71.977 million tons of forage with an average yield of 3.43 tons per acre.

Among the top dairy states, California produced 6.533 million tons of alfalfa which was tops in the U.S. That forage came from some 975,000 acres. Impressive as those totals are, California's production is down 8.3 percent from 2007 when California produced 7.128 million tons of forage.

South Dakota, with 2.4 million, and Montana, with 1.65 million acres, are tops in the nation for land dedicated to the crop. Next comes Wisconsin with 1.55 million acres which yielded 4.185 tons of forage (sixth in the nation). Minnesota ranked fifth in acres and tons with 1.25 million acres that produced 3.5 million tons. Idaho, top five dairy state harvested 4.674 million tons of alfalfa (third most in the nation) from 1.14 million acres (sixth nationally). Of note, Pennsylvania recorded the largest yield increase, producing 3.7 tons per acre which compares to 3 tons last year.