By Staff
DEWITT – With very little rain in Michigan in June and early August, many corn growers are seeing lower than average yields. Even though the state average bushels per acre has steadily increased, the lack of rainfall has caused lower than normal yields this year for much of the state.
Michigan planted 2.5 million acres of corn in 2007, which was about a 15-percent increase from last year. The 20-year range for corn acreage planted is between 2.1 million and 2.7 million acres.
During this same 20-year time frame, the Michigan corn crop has grown from 112 million bushels to 288 million bushels per year. Production is determined by acres harvested and average yield. The average yield per bushel has increased dramatically in the last 20 years from 70 bushels per acre to 147 bushels per acre.
Although this year much of Michigan suffered from a drought, the current yield trend predicts that Michigan has the potential to produce more than 147 bushels per acre, but is predicted to be at 113 bushels per acre this season. "Unfortunately Michigan has suffered from a drought, but nationally corn production is up from more than 11 billion bushels in 2006 to more than 13 billion bushels in 2007," said Jody Pollok, Corn Marketing Program of Michigan (CMPM) executive director. "The lack of water in Michigan during the critical time of the corn plant's growing season has led to an impact of the final crop. This has caused about 70 percent of the corn grown in Michigan to be rated as a fair to poor condition crop."