Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 3, 1994 TAG: 9409080102
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Forecasts for Virginia's corn, soybean and cotton yields this year indicate the 1994 crop will be better than last year's. The state's apple production, however, is expected to be down by 19 percent.
The Virginia Agricultural Statistics Service projects the corn yield this year will be 92 bushels per acre on average, 32 bushels per acre better than last year. Soybean yields are expected to be 30 bushels per acre, up nine bushels from last year, and cotton yields 650 pounds per acre up 18 pounds from a year ago.
The state's commercial apple harvest for 1994 is forecast at 300 million pounds, or nearly one-fifth less than last year's crop. Two dry years followed by this winter's freezing weather caused a reduced fruit set.
Because of plentiful rains in July and early August, the fruit should have a good size, however.
- Associated Press
Real income in Va. improving
CHARLOTTESVILLE - The buying power of the average Virginia family has declined since 1989, but real income is starting to improve, a new study says.
The median family income for the state in 1994 is projected to be $44,643, according to a study by the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.
After adjusting for inflation, the figure is a 3 percent decline from 1989, when the U.S. Census Bureau reported median family income in the state was $38,213.
If there are no major economic shifts, economist Samuel R. Kaplan said, median family income will gradually increase in 1995 and 1996. But while buying power has been improving, real income is not expected to reach its 1989 level until 1996.
Projected 1994 family incomes for Roanoke-region counties are: Bedford, $41,072; Botetourt, $44,464; Craig, $33,545; Floyd, $31,936; Giles, $32,681; Montgomery, $33,743; Pulaski, $32,531; Roanoke, $48,981; Rockbridge, $33,605. For cities in the region: Bedford, $32,281; Lexington, $45,240; Radford, $31,988; Roanoke, $32,661; and Salem, $40,200.
- Associated Press
by CNB