High Corn Yield

Larry Ford won the 2012 High Corn Yield Award at the 39th annual Farm City Day Celebration held on Friday, November 16. The Corn Yield Award is based on standardized yield checks provided by the Jackson County Extension Service.

Each year Larry helps seed companies evaluate newer corn varieties. This year he tested 13 varieties of the Dekalb and Pioneer corn. The Dekalb DKC62-09 produced 259 bushels per acre. According to Dekalb, DKC62-09 offers exceptional top-end yield potential and very good agronomics. DKC62-09 is adapted to most crops rotations and a wide range of environments including both irrigated and non-irrigated acres.

Larry grew f 200 acres corn this year. Overall his irrigated corn averaged 240 bushels per acre, and the corn he grew in some dry corners of his cotton fields averaged 100 bushels per acre. Larry said this was a good year for corn, because he did not have to irrigate as much and we did not have the extreme temperatures of previous years at pollination. His corn was actually 2 weeks ahead of schedule, simply due to lower temperatures this summer. There were some slight harvest delays, but he was able to get the crop harvested before the August rains that came so regular.

This was a strange year because we had good weather for production in the southeast, but terrible drought in the Midwest that caused the market price for corn to dramatically increase. This rare combination made this excellent year for growing corn. Next year Larry does expect to increase his corn production to 300 acres, but he is concerned about the uncertainty of local markets and somewhat limited infrastructure for handling additional corn locally.

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