With harvest season underway, Dallas County Iowa State University Extension Field Agronomist Meaghan Anderson shares how the yields are looking for corn. 

Anderson tells Raccoon Valley Radio that the corn yields are appearing a bit better than last year, but is seeing a much broader range of yields with lows between 150 and 170 bushels per acre, then highs from 240 to 250. She says that these numbers are slightly lower than last year, but emphasizes that 2024 saw some of the highest yields in central Iowa. Anderson notes the recent rain and windy conditions that have passed through the state has posed additional challenges for farmers.

“With the state that a lot of the crop was in, where it was full of some significant disease pressure earlier in the season, that means the crops had to essentially rob nutrients and carbohydrates from other places in the plant. So oftentimes that comes from stalks, so as we get further into the harvest season, we often will see the tops of corn plants fall down, and it really opens up the field and makes things look ragged. But unfortunately this year, we have an abundance of stalk rot below the ear.”

Anderson explains that she’s seeing a yield impact from farmers that applied fungicide, especially with the heavy disease pressure in most fields. She points out that she is finding about a 15-50 bushels per acre difference with farmers who did apply fungicide, which has helped with the southern rust.