NC Ag Commissioner Steve Troxler says that NC farmers indicate they will plant more acres of cotton, sweet potatoes and wheat this year compared with 2010, as was revealed in USDA's Prospective Plantings 3/31/11 report.
The report reveals that cotton growers in the state plan to plant 750,000 acres this year, 36% more than last year's acreage and the most since 2006. Farmers also say they'll plant 60,000 acres of sweet potatoes, up 5,000 acres from last year, with the growth due to higher demand for sweet potatoes, both domestically and internationally.
At this time there are 700,000 acres of winter wheat in the ground, and that's a 40% increase over last year. It also matches the 2009 total.
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