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Alfalfa becoming less of a player in hay market

An ag economist says production of the nation’s third largest crop has been trending lower for the past 30 years.

Carl Zulauf with Ohio State University has published an analysis of the nation’s hay market over the last century.  He says alfalfa acres peaked in 1957 and have been trending erratically lower since while yields have only seen modest increases.  “Alfalfa yields trended higher from the 1950s to the mid-1980s and have basically been stable since.  Non-alfalfa yields trended higher from 1965 to the mid-1990s and they’ve stabilized since then.”

He says the hay market has also shifted from alfalfa to other types of hay, including Timothy, clover and others, which are more utilized by the horse industry.

AUDIO: Interview with Carl Zulauf