A tale of higher yield: 2010 land price

When manager of MFA’s precision agronomy services Rick Greene was studying yield trends from corn country in the heart of Missouri, he noticed a significant climb in the past decade or so. To get a handle on just how much yields had increased, Greene tapped into USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service county average numbers for Howard, Saline and Lafayette counties. Tracking corn yield, the numbers plot out to show a 40 percent increase over the past 15 years.

Of course, with crops so dependent on weather, the year-to-year data is more variable, but the composite data shows a clear trendline toward higher yield.

Greene explained the trends. “It’s an impressive increase,” he said. “And I think we’re all familiar with the storyline. We’re investing more in every bag of seed we plant. The genetic packages are better each year, and the yield trend shows it. If we’re doing our job at MFA’s Precision Systems, a good number of farmers are also making better decisions about how they fertilize. We’re getting the right nutrients in the right places at the right time.”

Still, once he’d seen the severity of the trend, Greene drafted the nearby chart to show that the target is moving. The climbing yield shows how helpful accurate yield data and soil sampling can be to keep fertility at the soil’s most productive levels.

“Fertility plans from 15 years ago probably no longer fit the reality of today’s production levels or the technology available to put nutrients where they do the most good,” said Greene.
“If you take the average corn yield from 1995 at 112 bushels per acre, your crop used 40 pounds of P205. In 2009, at 156 bushels of corn per acre, your crop removed 55 pounds of P205. So, you’re looking at a 15-pound increase of nutrient removal compared to 15 years ago just based on yield increases.”