Battle for Acres in ND Begins - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

North Dakota holds the bragging rights in ranking number one in the production of 14 different commodities.

All those crops are fighting right now for acres this spring.

Ag Reporter Sarah Gustin has the story.

There's only so much cropland in the state--and the battle for acres is on.

(Neal Fisher / ND Wheat Growers) "The competitive nature of our battle for acres every year is going to do nothing but become more intense I think. It's something on our minds and we are going to have to worry about being competitive both globally and locally." 

Wheat is a long time staple crop in North Dakota.

Last year North Dakota farmers grew 340 million bushels with record yields averaging in the 40s.

And lack of snow on the ground could help this small grains crop gain acres in the coming spring.

(Neal Fisher / ND Wheat Growers) "Overall, we are going to have to worry about competitiveness in the global market because the Russians, Kazakhstans, and the Ukrainians are low cost producers and they tend to put this stuff out there pretty competitively. so we are going to have to be concerned about that. And locally earning farmer's acres is a big part of the game right now." 

Row crops continue to snag more acres, as these higher moisture crops push further west. 

Last year North Dakota farmers planted 3.5 million acres of corn.

(Tom Lilja / ND Corn Growers) "Counties west of here, basically around the Richardton ethanol plant will have corn insurance available for 2013 growing season. We've been hearing plenty of comments that guys will be expanding corn acres in that region." 

Soybeans is another crop that's been picking up acres across the state. 

Nationwide producers planted more than 76 million acres--making this the 3rd largest soybean crop on record.

(Tyler Speich / ND Soybean Council) "I think there is a lot of work being done on the varieties that are being produced in this part of the country. I also believe that with the strong demand and the growing population in China and southest Asia where our soybeans are being exported to that we can continue growing acres."

Some interesting facts--North Dakota farmers grow enough wheat to produce 11.6 billion loaves of bread, our soybeans make 82.4 billion servings of tofu and our corn crop is large enough to produce 687 million gallons of ethanol.