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Missouri corn yields lag behind 2024 in some areas

Farmers harvesting corn across north-central Missouri say the corn isn’t quite as good as it was last year.

Cody Brock, who farms in Carroll County, says late season corn diseases impacted yields.

“There was a lot of southern rust pressure that came in late this year.”

But he says it’s not far off from the 2024 corn crop. Robert Schmidt, who raises corn and soybeans in Chariton and Saline Counties, agrees. Schmidt is helping a neighbor harvest corn this week. 

“It’s just not wanting to dry down,” he says. “It matured instead of just dying. We had rain and the crop actually matured. I’ve seen corn with anywhere from 12 to 18 percent moisture in one field.”

Schmidt says farmers are paying the drying costs at the elevator, because storage is expected to be tight.

USDA says 28 percent of Missouri’s corn is harvested, behind last year’s pace, but ahead of average. Missouri’s soybean harvest is seven percent complete.

Rains are expected to delay some harvest progress this week, but once that moves through, Brock says he will start harvesting early-planted soybeans.