News

Above trend yields realized despite dryness

The lead economist for the National Corn Growers Association says a record corn yield during a year with widespread drought comes as a bit of a surprise.

Krista Swanson says some of the major corn-yielding states happened to be in some of the top drought-stricken regions of the Midwest.

“Indiana is one of those that was above trend line, Illinois is another one above trend line even though there was some widespread drought at different times,” she says.  “Of course, not as intensive drought or as long of the growing season. Michigan is a state that had near-trend line yields last year despite having some drought.”

She tells Brownfield focusing on the return on investment rather than yield will help growers challenged by the weather, especially in a year projected to have lower farm incomes.

“The higher yield doesn’t necessarily always correlate to the higher profitability, so think through your chemical and fertilizer programs.”

Swanson says production globally is also growing which means demand needs to increase to support more profitable corn prices in the future.

Brownfield interviewed Swanson during this week’s Great Lakes Crop Summit in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.