Last year’s corn crop broke all records with bin-busting yields from DeKalb County fields.
The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistic Service (NASS) reported the county’s corn yield average was 224 bushels per acre in 2022.
Last year’s corn surpassed the previous high for the county set in 2016 at 216 bushels per acre.
Not only did DeKalb County do well in crop production, but Illinois was tops in the nation in corn and soybean production. Five counties in the state led in corn production; one county lead in soybean production. McLean County led the nation in both corn and soybean production.
The state had its best corn yield with an average of 214 bushels per acre in 2022.
Attributing to the state’s top crops were timely rains, good soils and smart farmers, said Mark Schleusener, state statistician at the NASS Illinois field office.
“The rains fell in a timely manner over nearly the entire state. And some other states, especially west of the Mississippi River, were well short of normal rainfall,” he said.
DeKalb County’s soybean average was nearly 65 bushels per acre, the second-best yielding year for the county and surpassing the state average of 63 bushels in 2022. The record soybean year for the county was in 2016 at 68 bushels per acre.
The five-year average county corn yield is nearly 200 bushels per acre. For soybeans, the five-year average is over 60 bushels per acre.
Farmers in DeKalb County harvested 182,500 acres of corn and 131,100 acres of soybeans last year.
Behind the top county crops were wheat averaging 73 bushels per acre and oats at nearly 105 bushels per acre in 2022.
