ED MCQUEEN, DIRECTOR OF MARKET INFORMATION

Vegetable production rising
   Fresh market vegetable and melon production for the 24 crops estimated in 2007 totaled 494 million hundred-weight, up two percent from last year.
Harvested area covered 1.94 million acres, virtually unchanged from 2006.
Value of the 2007 crop is estimated at 10.9 billion dollars, up two percent from a year ago. The three largest crops, in terms of production, are onions, head lettuce, and watermelons, which combined to account for 38 percent of the total production. California continues to be the leading fresh market state, accounting for 46 percent of the harvested area, 50 percent of production, and 54 percent of the value.

Feedlot inventory all-time high
   Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 12.1 million head on January 1, 2008. The inventory was one percent above January 1, 2007 and is the highest January 1 inventory since the series began in 1996.
   Placements in feedlots during December totaled 1.70 million, one percent below 2007 and 10 percent below 2006. Marketings of fed cattle during December totaled 1.65 million, one percent above 2007 but four percent below 2006. This is the second lowest fed cattle marketings for the month of December since the series began in 1996.

State swine numbers are up
   There were 350,000 hogs and pigs on Kentucky farms on December 1, 2007, up 13 percent from a year ago, but five percent below December 1, 2005. Breeding inventory, at 35,000 head, was unchanged from last year, but down 12 percent from 2005. Market hog inventory, at 315,000 head, was 15 percent above December 1, 2006 but five percent below December 1, 2005.  The 2007 Kentucky pig crop was 692,000 head, up two percent from the 2006 pig crop. Sows farrowing totaled 74,000 head, down 1,000 from 2006.

Egg prices increase
   Table-egg production in November was reported at 535 million dozen, down 1.3 percent from November 2006.With shell-egg production continuing to be below year-earlier levels, wholesale egg prices have been very high. A dozen Grade A large eggs in the New York wholesale market averaged $1.41 in fourth quarter 2007, up 58 percent from the same period in 2006. For 2007, prices averaged $1.14 per dozen, 43 cents higher than the previous year.  Prices moved higher throughout the fourth quarter, with prices averaging $1.14 in October, $1.49 in November, and $1.60 in December. Although production is expected to gradually increase, shell egg prices through the first half of 2008 are expected to remain considerably higher than in 2007.