Alfalfa and hay supplies are key this year—a building U.S. cattle herd, long-term diminishing forage acreage, water constraints in the West, drought and rising exports will support hay prices in 2014.
While it’s still too early to say, some analysts expect hay growers who converted marginal stands into cornfields over the past few years to shift back into alfalfa.
Production of hay, including alfalfa, in the top-18 hay-producing states has been declining rapidly, according to USDA’s Annual Crop Production Summary.
Roughly half of the country is experiencing dry conditions, yet analysts think the same number of acres will be planted to water-intensive alfalfa this spring.
