Slightly Smaller Corn Harvest Predicted for Kansas

Kansas farmers are expected to harvest slightly less corn than last year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this year’s crop is forecast at just under 800 million bushels, down 2% from last year, The Hays Daily News reports.

For Haven farmers, Bob Bacon and his son-in-law Daniel Kelly, it’s an average year.

“It was looking really good early on,” Kelly said. “But August was hot and dry.”

According to the USDA, this year’s average yield of the 5.75 million acres planted is forecast at 137 bushels per acre, up by four bushels from 2019.

As of Oct. 5, 44% of Kansas corn was harvested. This is 34% ahead of last year, but according to the USDA, behind the 49% average by this time during the past five years. More than half of the corn already harvested is either good or excellent, with about one-firth ranked at poor or very poor.