Yields of cotton, rice and potatoes set records

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Cotton, rice and potato yields in Missouri set new records in 2001, while soybean production matched previous highs, the Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service reported.

Cotton production was estimated at 720,000 bales, 33 percent more than in 2000. The state's rice production reached a 12.3 million hundredweight, up 28 percent from a year earlier. And commercial potato production totaled 1.90 million hundredweight, 13 percent above the 2000 production.

The total production of soybeans, the state's top crop, was up 6 percent from the 2000 crop, and 27 percent above the 1999 levels.

Missouri farmers harvested 4.90 million of the 4.95 million acres planted.

Average yield was 38 bushels per acre, up three bushels from the 2000 yield and equaling the record set in 1992 and 1994.

Corn production in Missouri totaled 346 million bushels, down 13 percent below the record high of a year earlier.