Georgia's corn production is expected to increase by 25 percent over 2010, while significant declines in peanut, hay and soybean production are forecast in 2011, according to a crop forecast from the United States Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).



The state's corn growers planted 300,000 acres of corn for grain in 2011, up from 245,000 in 2010.

The yields are expected to average 148 bushels per acre, boosting expected corn production to more than 44 million bushels in 2011. The state produced 35.5 million bushels in 2010. 



Georgia cotton growers planted 65,000 more acres in 2011 than in 2010, and their yields are expected to increase to 870 pounds per acre, which would increase the state's production to 2.5 million bales this year, up from 2.25 million in 2010.



Winter wheat production is expected to nearly double, from 5 million bushels in 2010 to 9.9 million bushels in 2011. 



The NASS forecast harvested acres in hay to decline by 80,000 acres, from 650,000 in 2010 to 570,000 in 2011, and yields are also expected to decline from 2.5 tons per acre in 2010 to 2.2 tons per acre in 2011, producing 1.254 million tons of hay in 2011, a drop of 23 percent from 2010 production.



Georgia peanut growers, whose harvested acreage is forecast at 475,000 in 2011, are expected to produce 17 percent fewer peanuts in 2011.

The anticipated yields of 3,450 pounds per acre in 2011 are expected to produce 1.638 billion pounds, 17 percent less than the 1.976 billion pounds the state produced in 2010. 



While the harvested acres in tobacco were predicted to be up slightly, the yields and production are expected to drop. The state's tobacco growers are predicted to produce 26.45 million pounds in 2011, down 3 percent from 2010, when they produced 27.36 million pounds. 

Georgia soybean production is expected to drop 38 percent from 6.76 million bushels in 2010 to 4.16 million in 2011.

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