Corn yields continue to rise
For 60 years, the U.S. National Corn Growers Association has sponsored an annual yield competition that explores potential limits to growing corn.
David Hula of Charles City, Va, won the 2023 contest with a new world record of 623.84 bushels per acre, up from his previous record set in 2019 in the irrigated strip till category. Among 6,883 entries from 46 states, it was Hula's 12th national high yield win and fifth world record, a DTN Progressive Farmer report on the 2023 competition said.
Hula's son Craig placed second with 590.0198 bushels per acre in the no-till irrigated division. Curiously enough, their Renwood Farms operation in Virginia encompasses 4,000 acres just up the river from Jamestown, the continent's first permanent English settlement.
Their land in the Chesapeake watershed has been farmed continuously for more than 400 years, Hula said in an interview with competition officials. A corn crop of more than 600 bushels per acre is an astounding result.
On average, North American farms yield much less than half the volume of Hula's 2023 record, not to mention what was harvested by his ancient predecessors. However, there's been a lot written lately about yield growth as a factor in the future of agriculture and the ability of conventional farmers to feed the world under conditions of climate change.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's
final estimate of 2023 corn yields came in at 177.3 bushels per acre, University of Illinois economist Scott Irwin said in a recent article on the website Farm Doc Daily. That's up 2.4 bushels from the agency's most recent estimate in November and another U.S. record.
USDA yield numbers came as a surprise to many observers considering drought conditions that affected the first half of the growing season. Market watchers are still trying to figure out why corn prices seem so sluggish since harvest.
Ontario growers also experienced large harvests in 2023. Agricorp, the Ontario agency that manages government crop insurance programs, announced “strong yields” in a Jan. 17 statement for both soybeans and corn in 2023.
Average yield of 53 bushels per acre for soybeans exceeds the 10year average of 48 bushels per acre Likewise, corn yield in 2023 exceeds the 10 per average at 184 bushels per acre, Agricorp data shows.
In addition to growing and selling crops, David Hula makes part of his income growing and selling seed and advising other farmers about how to maximize their production without damaging soil and water resources associated with their farms.
In 2023, yield competition organizers added a new, pilot category, the “nitrogen management class” won by Nick Pressler of Aurora, Nebraska, whose entry yielded 312.97 bushels per acre. The appearance of this competition class reflects continued concern about the use of commercial fertilizers in high-yield production agriculture and requires entrants to limit their use of added nitrogen.
In a December interview with DTN'S Pamela Smith, corn yield champ Hula provided details of his technique. He described tissue testing, moisture probes, close attention to weather, irrigation and a very detailed formula of fertilizers: nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, boron and sulfur. But he also emphasized the role in his astounding yields of genetic improvements in corn varieties.
Asked about the “theoretical threshold” for corn yield, Hula couldn't say, but added he's “pretty sure it hasn't been breached.”
A lot of analysis about the impact of climate change on agricultural yields shows concerns about the potential impact of increased temperatures, evapotranspiration and drought. The impacts of climate change seem real enough; but corn yields, so far, get bigger.