Acres & Assets | Unveiling the Marvels of American Agriculture

The production capabilities of American agriculture are amazing!  Much of what makes farmers in this country productive and efficient was on display at the recent Commodity Classic trade show.  For example, the latest and largest models of combines can now harvest more bushels of corn in one hour than I could harvest in one day 30 years ago.  Innovation in seeds, agronomic practices, equipment, and technology have propelled productivity upward over the decades.

Growth in corn yields over time is a good indicator of how the output of American agriculture has drastically improved.  The chart below from the University of Illinois’s Farmdoc Daily plots Illinois corn yields from 1870 to 2023.  A new technology of hybrid seed corn started to be used more widely in the 1940’s and better agronomic practices came into being also during the following decades to increase yields.

National corn yields followed the same trend albeit usually at a somewhat lower yield level than experienced in Illinois.  Yields remained low into the 1940’s with the country’s yield in 1943 being 32.6 bushels per acre.  The first year that the national yield broke 100 bushels per acre was 1978.  The current 2023 corn yield was 177.3 bushels per acre.

The potential for even higher yields was on display at the Commodity Classic.  The National Corn Growers Association sponsors a corn yield contest each year.  The winner in 2023 produced 623 bushels per acre (as measured on one acre) in the state of Virginia.  That is 3 ½ times the 2023 national corn yield! 

The soybean yield record for 2023 was 206 bushels per acre produced in Georgia.  That yield was four times the 2023 national soybean yield of nearly 50 bushels per acre.  Yield contest winners are utilizing all possible means to enhance yields of which many practices could someday be employed by more farmers.  The high yields achievable demonstrate the amazing potential in the crop when nurtured by the farmer and the industry.

The Commodity Classic trade show gave a good glimpse of how farmers and ag companies are striving for productivity, efficiency, and sustainability.  The large and technologically advanced farm equipment can allow a farmer to cover more acres being more efficient with time and inputs.  New biological products used to fertilize or protect crops were exhibited by numerous companies.  Sprayer technology will now allow the micro-spot spraying of a single weed saving money and chemicals.  Seed technology continues to enhance yield potential of crops grown in the grain belt.  Carbon credit companies were also present as they work to foster a new effort for sustainability.

Farming has changed in many ways since 1870 to grow to the productivity achieved today.  The basics of planting the seed and tending it till harvest have not changed as this is the necessity of producing a crop.  What has changed is the equipment, technologies, inputs, and techniques employed to raise a crop have progressed to new heights of production and efficiency.