OCR Text |
Show Farmers Harvest Second Largest Peacetime Cop WASHINGTON The Ari-culture Ari-culture Department says the American farmer has turned out his second largest peacetime crop production in history. In its annual summary the Department De-partment says total crop production produc-tion this year fell 5 per cent below be-low last year's record high. But it was 8 -per cent greater than in any other previous peacetime year. This year's production was topped only by two war years. 1942 and 1944. Wheat production in 1947 was put at 1.364 nno nnn hnchoic tm was 209,000,000 bushels greater ' than last year's record-breaking output and 474,000,000 bushels above the previous 10-year average. aver-age. It was the nation's fourth billion-bushel wheat crop. But the gain in what was more than offset by the big decline in corn production. The Department Depart-ment placed corn production at 2,400,000,000 bushels. This was 849,000,000 bushels smaller than . last year's record crop. The corn crop, which provides the raw material for the nation's meat supplies, was delayed by spring floods and ravaged by summer drouth. It was the smallest crop since the drouth year of 1936. The oats crop was about 200,-000,000 200,-000,000 bushels more this year than last; there were about 17,-000,000 17,-000,000 more bushels of barley, 13,000,000,000 more bushels of rye, 150,000 more bushels of buckwheat, 11,000,000 more bushels of flaxseed, 7,000,000 more of rice, and about 12,000,-000 12,000,-000 fewer bushels of grain sorghums. |