What’s Going on With the Country’s Corn Harvest?

After another productive week, U.S. farmers pushed corn harvest progress further ahead of the five-year average than it’s been all season. That’s according to the USDA Crop Progress report released Monday.

Across the top 18 corn growing states, 81% of the crop had been harvested by Oct. 27, up 16 percentage points for the week. That puts corn harvest 17 percentage points ahead of the five-year average. 

Corn harvest progress is significantly ahead of not only the five-year average but also last year’s progress. Just 68% of the corn crop had been harvested last year at this time across top states.

This season’s corn harvest progress had been largely on track with that of last season. Both were a few percentage points ahead of respective five-year averages through the first week of October. However, beginning the week ending Oct. 13, progress began moving increasingly further ahead of both trend lines. 

Undoubtedly, the speedy harvest can be owed to drought conditions across much of the country.

With 19% of the crop left to harvest, growers across top states have just over 14.8 million acres of corn still to be run. That’s derived from June acreage data from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

When it comes to five-year trends for corn harvested, 16 of the 18 top states are ahead, one is behind, and one is on track. 

Ohio’s corn harvest is the furthest ahead compared to normal progress. Corn harvest in the Buckeye State reached 72% by Oct. 27, a striking 34 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 38%. 

Colorado is the only state not at least meeting its respective five-year average for corn harvest progress. Still, its harvest is just one percentage point behind the five-year average of 59%. 

Farmers in top corn growing states saw an average of 6.6 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending Oct. 27. Of the 18 states, Pennsylvania farmers were able to take advantage of a full week suitable for fieldwork. On the other hand, Texas farmers had the fewest days suitable for fieldwork at 5.9 days.