By RAY WYCHE
Staff Writer

Columbus County, considered by some experts to have some of the best tobacco-producing land in the state, was near the bottom on the list of yield-per-acre of tobacco harvested in 2005, according to a U. S. Department of Agriculture harvest report.

According to an estimate of the 2005 crop (the last year for which figures are available), of the 33 counties the North Carolina Department of Agriculture lists as growing at least 15 acres of tobacco, Columbus County is outranked by 29 counties.

The figures are estimates released by the USDA’s North Carolina Field Office.

Several months ago, the USDA released information showing that Columbus County was among the top counties in the nation in crop insurance fraud; the apparently low yields-per-acre in some farm commodities in Columbus County may be the result of some growers intentionally aiming for a low-yield harvest in order to collect federal insurance.

The low yield in tobacco, in a county that historically has produced bountiful tobacco crops, may be the result of fraudulent farming practices. The quota on tobacco was eliminated in 2004, allowing farmers to produce as much of the crop as they desired, leading some to plant extensive acreage which they insured against crop failure and then failed to follow even elementary farming practices to produce a good crop.

The county’s yield-per-acre in tobacco was 1,650 pounds from an estimated 3,950 acres in the 2005 crop year, according to the N. C. Department of Agriculture estimates.

The state average yield-per-acre for tobacco in 2005 was 2,225 pounds per acre as estimated by the N. C. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Statistics Division.

Brunswick and Onslow counties were tied with Columbus in the estimates. Only one county—Scotland with a yield estimate of 1,130 pounds per acre—is lower than Columbus.

The annual report issued by the USDA on farm production totals consists of estimated figures.

In corn production, Columbus County farmers planted about 30,000 acres, according to the report. (The federal annual Crop Report shows 38,761 acres of corn planted in the county in 2005). The county’s growers averaged 112 bushels per acre in 2005, according to the estimate, compared to a 90 bushel-per-acre average in 2004.

The report estimates that the 2006 corn crop in the state averaged 132 bushels per acre, a state record.

In cotton, the report estimates that Columbus County had 8,350 acres planted (the Crop Report shows 8,189 acres) with an average yield-per-acre of 776 pounds, down from the average of 807 pounds in 2004. Statewide, the estimate for the 2006 cotton crop yield-per-acre is 721 pounds.

Soybean plantings in the county in 2005 were estimated at 52,500 acres (the Crop Report has 51,430 acres) with an average yield of 25 bushels per acre, compared to the 2006 figure of 32 bushels per acre.

Peanut plantings in the county in 2005 are listed at 6,700 acres (the Crop Report shows 7,545 acres) with an estimated yield of 3,095 pounds per acre. Statewide estimated yield-per-acre for the 2006 crop is 3,200 pounds.