Records Are Made To Be Broken
October 1, 2014
by William C Bailey
Professor, Western Illinois University
It is said that records are made to be broken. In my undergraduate days, a classmate set a record when, at one sitting, he ate 24 breaded jumbo shrimp at the local Friday seafood buffet. As noteworthy as that seemed at the time, Illinois corn and soybean farmers are on track to set four records this year – now that is really impressive and makes one marvel at today’s agriculture.
In recently released estimates on the size of this year’s Illinois corn and soybean crops, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) set the state corn yield at 194 bushels an acre with soybean yield projected to be 56 bushels an acre. Both of these yields, if harvest goes well, will be records. 2004 was the year the previous Illinois corn yield record was set – 180 bushels an acre. The 14 bushel increase in corn yield is testimony to contemporary farming technology, farming skill and, of course, some excellent weather. It is a similar situation for soybeans – the new record yield of 56 bushels an acre is almost nine percent higher than the previous record.