General: Tropical systems continued to damage Florida's field crops throughout September while drier conditions prevailed by early October. Around mid-September, Hurricane Ivan spun off tornadoes in the Panhandle in addition to dumping torrential rainfall. Some outer bands of rain from Ivan fell in scattered areas of the Peninsula. Intense winds tossed crops and heavy rains flooded fields in areas affected by the storm. Some fields were saturated with water from Hurricane Frances which swept through the State a week prior. The continuous precipitation caused soggy soils which hampered producers from putting heavy equipment in the fields. Hence, peanut digging slowed in the Panhandle. The storm delayed hay making and corn harvesting. Jefferson County lost a devastating amount of the remaining pecan crop with limb breakage and uprooted trees due to all of the catastrophic weather events. Most topsoil and subsoil moisture supplies were surplus in the Panhandle and adequate to surplus over the Peninsula.
  Remnants of Hurricane Ivan crossed over the southern Peninsula after mid-September and Hurricane Jeanne entered the east coast of Florida on September 26. Drier weather in the Panhandle aided the recovery of cotton losses from Hurricane Ivan; however, in other areas muddy fields slowed cotton defoliation. Producers were able to dig peanuts during the drier weather with harvest nearly a third done by late September. Some soybeans were lost in the Panhandle and northern Peninsula. In most areas, the tropical systems kept soil moisture supplies adequate to surplus.
  Drier conditions over most of the Peninsula and Panhandle localities allowed field work to progress rapidly in early October with only minimal scattered showers in some areas. Younger cotton acreage showed less damage from the tropical storms. Peanuts were rated 90 percent in good condition by early October; in addition, growers were able to speed up the digging of peanuts after the storms passed. Hay quality diminished while producers continued to bale as fields dried out. Some corn acreage was lost in Washington County. Soils were able to dry out in some Panhandle and southeastern localities while a few areas reported short to very short soil moisture levels. For the most part, elsewhere, soil moisture was adequate to surplus with many low lying areas still too wet to support any heavy equipment.

Peanuts: Production is expected to total 299,000,000 pounds versus 345,000,000 pounds in 2003. Harvested acreage is projected at 130,000 acres, down 5,000 acres or four percent from the September forecast, but 13 percent above the previous year. The current yield is 2,300 pounds per acre opposed to 3,100 pounds per acre in August and 3,000 last year.

Sugarcane: Harvesting was significantly delayed due to hurricanes passing over the area. Acreage expected for harvest is down 18,000 acres from last year to 420,000 acres this year. Yield is set at 36.0 tons per acre compared to last year's 39.3 tons per acre. Estimated production is set at 15,120,000 tons, down 12 percent from last year.

Tobacco: Yield averaged 2,500 pounds per acre, the same as the 2003 yield. Production is set at 10,000,000 pounds compared with 11,000,000 pounds produced last year. Growers harvested 4,000 acres, down 400 acres from the 4,400 acres pulled in 2003.

Pecans: Expected production for all varieties is set at 500,000 pounds, down 1,600,000 pounds from the 2,100,000 pounds produced last year. Production of improved varieties is estimated at 200,000 pounds which declined by 300,000 pounds from 2003. Production of native and seedling varieties is forecast at 300,000 pounds, down by 1,300,000 pounds from last year's 1,600,000 pounds.

Winter Potatoes: Despite the decrease in acreage, production as well as yield increased from the previous year. Production was set at 1.57 million cwt up 13 percent from last year's 1.39 million cwt. Producers delayed planting earlier this year due to a lack of available contracts, along with wet weather. Acreage harvested at 5,500 acres was down 5 percent from last year while yields averaged 285 cwt per acre, an increase of 19 percent from last year's 240 cwt per acre.

Peanuts: Production is forecast at 4.13 billion pounds, down 7 percent from last month and down fractionally from 2003. Area for harvest is expected to total 1.39 million acres, down fractionally from September but up 6 percent from last year. Yields are expected to average 2,972 pounds per acre, down 216 pounds from September and down 187 pounds from 2003. Production in the Southeast States (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina) is expected to total 2.76 billion pounds, down 10 percent from September and down fractionally from last year. Expected area for harvest, at 968,000 acres, is down 1 percent from September but up 13 percent from 2003. Yields in the 4-State region are expected to average 2,852 pounds per acre, 313 pounds below September and 386 pounds below last year.

Cotton: Upland cotton harvested area, at 13.0 million acres, is the same as last month but 10 percent above 2003. Based on additional survey and administrative data, Alabama expects to harvest 10,000 acres less than September, while Mississippi harvested area increased by 10,000 acres. During the month of September, three Hurricanes (Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne) crossed over the Southeast. Damage reported included plants that were blown over and twisted, and cotton that was knocked out of the bolls. Producers were concerned that the bolls may become hard locked if they received more rain. Alabama, Florida, and Georgia producers expanded defoliation with the return of drier weather conditions at the end of September.

Sugarcane: Production of sugarcane for sugar and seed in 2004 is forecast at 30.3 million tons, 4 percent below the September forecast and 10 percent below 2003. Sugarcane growers intend to harvest 961,600 acres for sugar and seed during the 2004 crop year, unchanged from September but 3 percent less than last year's final harvested area. Yield is forecast at 31.5 tons per acre, 1.5 tons below the previous forecast and 2.5 tons below the 2003 yield.

Flue-Cured Tobacco: Flue-cured production is expected to total 513 million pounds, up less than 1 percent since last month and up 12 percent since last year. Growers plan to harvest 229,400 acres in 2004, down 1 percent from September and 2 percent below 2003. Yields are expected to average 2,237 pounds per acre, 22 pounds higher than last month and 280 pounds above a year ago.

Pecans: Utilized production is forecast at 189 million pounds (in-shell basis), down 33 percent from last year's crop but 9 percent above the 2002 crop. The current crop is expected to be lower than last year's due to the alternate bearing pattern typical of pecans. In addition to being a low year in this cycle, the Southeastern States generally noted high disease pressure early in the growing season caused by excessive rainfall, followed by widespread damage to trees and nuts due to the hurricanes and tropical storms in August and September. Western growing areas reported some drought and insect concerns, but overall a good, low year crop.

Winter Potatoes: Production for 2004 is revised to 4.82 million cwt, up 38 percent from the April forecast and 20 percent above 2003. Harvested area of 18,500 acres in the 2 winter potato States (California and Florida) is 32 percent above the April 1 forecast and 29 percent more than last year. The average yield of 260 cwt per acre is up 10 cwt from the April forecast but 22 cwt below 2003.

Crop Production: Acreage for harvest and forecasts of yield and production for Florida and United States as of October 1, 2004 with comparisons
Crop	Harvested acreage		Yield per acre		Unit	Production
	2003	For harvest 2004	2003	Indicated 2004		2003	Indicated 2004
	Thousands		Units			Thousands
FLORIDA
Cotton 1/ 2/	--	--	--	--	3/	--	--
Peanuts	115.0	130.0	3,000	2,300	Lbs.	345,000	299,000
Pecans, All	--	--	--	--	Lbs.	2,100	500
Improved Varieties	--	--	--	--	Lbs.	500	200
Native and Seedling	--	--	--	--	Lbs.	1,600	300
Potatoes:
Winter 4/	5.8	5.5	240	285	Cwt	1,392	1,568
Spring 5/	28.6	22.5	280	249	Cwt	8,008	5,605
Sugarcane 5/	438.0	420.0	39.3	36.0	Ton	17,231	15,120
Tobacco, Type 14	4.4	4.0	2,500	2,500	Lbs.	11,000	10,000
UNITED STATES
Corn for grain	71,139	73,311	142.2	158.4	Bu.	10,113,887	11,613,226
Cotton, all 2/	12,003.4	13,223.0	730	782	3/	18,255.2	21,545.0
Other States 6/	172.0	174.0	576	607	3/	206.5	220.0
Hay, Alfalfa 5/	23,578	22,226	3.24	3.48	Ton	76,307	77,371
Hay, All Other 5/	39,764	39,363	2.03	2.25	Ton	80,816	88,549
Peanuts for nuts	1,312.0	1,388.0	3,159	2,972	Lbs.	4,144,150	4,125,400
Pecans, All	--	--	--	--	Lbs.	282,100	189,300
Improved Varieties	--	--	--	--	Lbs.	202,900	129,650
Native and Seedling	--	--	--	--	Lbs.	79,200	59,650
Potatoes:
Winter 4/	14.3	18.5	282	260	Cwt	4,027	4,818
Spring 5/	84.7	71.7	288	266	Cwt	24,433	19,077
Summer 5/	58.7	55.1	320	336	Cwt	18,766	18,487
Fall 7/	1,090.9	1,022.8	376	7/	Cwt	410,588	7/
Rice	2,997	3,334	6,645	6,763	8/	199,157	225,488
Sorghum for grain	7,798	6,559	52.7	70.4	Bu.	411,237	461,857
Soybeans for beans	72,476	73,990	33.9	42.0	Bu.	2,453,665	3,106,861
Sugarbeets	1,347.9	1,326.0	22.7	21.7	Ton	30,583	28,840
Sugarcane for sugar and seed	994.4	961.6	34.0	31.5	Ton	33,857	30,315
Tobacco, All	411.2	409.6	1,952	2,156	Lbs.	802,654	883,168
Tobacco, Types 11 - 14	233.4	229.4	1,957	2,237	Lbs.	456,690	513,230
Tobacco, Type 14	31.4	28.0	2,242	2,029	Lbs.	70,400	56,800
Wheat, all 5/	52,839	50,556	44.2	42.0	Bu.	2,336,526	2,122,894
Winter 5/	36,541	34,825	46.7	42.8	Bu.	1,707,069	1,489,408
Durum 5/	2,869	2,521	33.7	35.3	Bu.	96,637	88,951
Other spring 5/	13,429	13,210	39.7	41.2	Bu.	532,820	544,535
1/ Florida cotton included in U.S.”Other States”. 2/ Includes both upland and Amer-Pima cotton. 3/ Yield in pounds, production in 480 pound net weight bales. 4/ 2004 crop revised. 5/ Estimates for current year carried forward from earlier forecast. 6/ Other States include FL and KS. Individual State level estimates will be published in the “Crop Production 2004 Summary”. 7/ First forecast in November. 8/ Yield in pounds, production in hundredweight.