How’s the Country’s Corn Harvest Going?

In its Crop Progress report for the week ending Oct. 20, USDA said farmers were outpacing normal corn harvest progress in all but one of the 18 top growing states.  

According to the report released Monday, 65% of corn harvest was wrapped up for the top 18 corn growing states by Oct. 20, an increase of 18 percentage points since the week prior. 

With that, the country’s top corn growing states are, as a whole, 13 percentage points ahead of the five-year average for corn harvested. Last year at this time, 55% of the corn crop had been harvested in those 18 states. 

With 35% of the crop left to harvest, growers across top states have just over 27.3 million acres of corn still to be run. That’s derived from June acreage data from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Seventeen of the 18 top growing states are ahead of five-year harvest trends. How far corn harvest is ahead of normal varies widely among the states.

Ohio’s corn harvest is the furthest ahead of normal: the Buckeye State’s harvest progress reached 51% by Oct. 20, exceeding the five-year average by 24 percentage points. On the other hand, Kentucky’s harvest progress is just one percentage point ahead of normal. 

North Carolina is the only state not exceeding its five-year average for corn harvested. Harvest progress reached 94% by Oct. 20, right on track with the state’s five-year trend. 

Farmers in top corn growing states saw an average of 6.6 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending Oct. 20. Of the 18 states, three were able to take advantage of a full week suitable for fieldwork: Illinois, Missouri, and North Carolina. Colorado and Ohio had the fewest days suitable for fieldwork at 6 days.