In 2017, the Northwest District was the largest wheat-producing district in Minnesota, with 63.1 million bushels, according to estimates released in December by the Upper Midwest Field Office of the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Polk County continued to be the largest spring wheat-producing county in Minnesota, with 17.4 million bushels. Marshall and Norman counties, at 11.1 million and 6.15 million bushels, respectively, ranked second and third.

The highest-yielding county was Yellow Medicine, with a yield of 72.4 bushels per acre. Red Lake and Pennington counties ranked second and third, with 70.8 and 70.6 bushels per acre, respectively. The lowest-yielding county was Benton, at 43.6 bushels per acre. Todd County had the second-lowest yield at 46.7 bushels per acre.

The largest increases in yield were Morrison and Marshall counties, with gains of 17.2 and 16.4 bushels per acre, respectively. The largest decreases in yield were in Lyon and Wilkin counties, which dropped 14.7 and 2.8 bushels per acre, respectively.

Oats
Stearns County was the largest oat-producing county in Minnesota, at 799,000 bushels. Wabasha, at 226,000 bushels, was a distant second, followed by Winona at 158,000.

The East Central and Southeast districts had lower yields in 2017 compared to 2016, while the remaining district yields rose. The highest-yielding county was Murray, with a yield of 126.0 bushels per acre, followed by Rock with a yield of 121.2 per acre. Faribault and Lac qui Parle also had average yields over 100 bushels per acre at 102.0 and 101.1 bushels per acre, respectively. Murray had the greatest increase in yield from 2016, increasing 44.8 bushels per acre, followed by St. Louis County, which increased 13.4 bushels per acre.

The lowest-yielding county was Becker at 38.8 bushels per acre, the only county with a yield below 40 bushels per acre. Aitken County had the second-lowest yield at 45.4 bushels per acre, and Hubbard County was the third-lowest at 50.9 bushels per acre. Chisago County had the largest decrease at 24.7 bushels per acre, followed by Winona and Sibley counties, dropping 18.7 and 17.5 bushels per acre, respectively.

Barley
In 2017, the Northwest District produced 4.12 million bushels of Minnesota’s barley crop, accounting for 80% of the state’s total production.

Marshall County, at 1.51 million bushels, was the largest barley-producing county. It produced 29% of the state’s barley.

The Northwest District, which accounted for 75% of the harvested acres in Minnesota, had an average yield of 80.8 bushels per acre, up 15.4 bushels from last year. The highest average yield was recorded in Marshall County, at 85.6 bushels per acre. The lowest average yielding county was Todd, at 41.7 bushels per acre.

Yields are derived from production divided by area harvested. Only published estimates were considered in rankings of districts and counties.

Source: NASS Upper Midwest Field Office