The chart below shows the corn yield history on one farm we’ve managed for many years. This farm has a good side (green) but half of the other field (red) consists of very sandy soil. The corn on the poorer field produced 180 bushels per acre this year. Compare that to prior years which came in below the trend line. I’d say this year’s corn crop handled the dry weather stress better than ever before. This chart also shows the poorer field is a very good producer given adequate weather conditions. Meanwhile, the good field (green) is consistently at or above the trend line. One has to go back to the historic drought of 2012 or back to 2006 (also hot/dry) to find below-trend yields in the good field.
This chart shows several things. 1.) good soils pay in higher yields and better consistency 2.) poorer soils can produce well but will not stand up to harsh conditions 3.) the yield trend keeps improving in both good and bad years. Incidentally, the soybeans on the good side of this farm averaged 71 bushels per acre this year.
