[Editor's Note: This is a pretty good article, overall. It goes over the history of corn farming, the problem of slowing yield trends, and covers the genetic engineering debate fairly. However, it seems to miss something vital, in that forever increasing growth, whether in the corn industry or elsewhere, isn't actually possible. At some point, everything tops out. This is inevitable. The article essentially does raise the question, "Have we reached the limit of what the corn plant can produce?" but fails to address the implications of this question, and indeed, ultimately almost brushes off the answer by assuming that newer, better genetic engineering will solve the conundrum we find ourselves in. ]
As farmers put the state's 2009 corn crop into the ground this month, they expect to grow more corn per acre than last year. And if history is any guide, they will.
Farmers today harvest more corn than their parents did a generation ago from the same fields, a fact made evident in historical charts that show corn yield over the past several decades as a steadily rising line.
So reliable is corn's growth of about 2 extra bushels per acre per year that government analysts folded it into their forecasts for this year's 12.1 billion bushel crop. It's just expected.
And yet it's still not enough. The state's ubiquitous crop that's become a staple for feed, fuel, sugar and everything from drywall to shoe polish is in more demand than ever, with a third of the crop going to ethanol.
Some say farmers will rise to the challenge, that corn yields will grow even faster in years to come.
"We are projected to double corn yields in this nation in the next 20 years," said Jeff Broin, CEO of ethanol refiner Poet, a South Dakota-based company that produces 1 billion gallons of ethanol a year.
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Agriculture: Will the Yield Keep Growing?
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By Matt McKinney
The Star Tribune - MN, June 3, 2009
Straight to the Source
