U.S. Corn for Grain Yield (Bushels per Acre)

## What this measures

The average yield of corn harvested for grain in the United States: bushels per acre harvested, one value per crop year, from 1866.

## Why it matters

Yield is output per acre, the core measure of farm productivity. Over a century it shows what seed breeding, fertilizer, machinery and better practices have done; year to year it shows drought, heat and disease. It drives grain supply, prices, farm incomes and food costs.

## How to read it

Higher means more grain from each acre harvested. Read the long trend and the dips separately: a single bad year is usually weather (the 1930s droughts, 1988, 2012 in the U.S. corn belt, 2021 on the Canadian Prairies). For the current crop year the value is NASS's latest estimate until its end-of-season summary, and it is revised.

## What it does not say

It is per acre harvested, not per acre planted, so crops abandoned after a disaster drop out. It says nothing about grain quality, protein or price, and a national average mixes very different regions.

## Source

USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Quick Stats, survey data, national level, annual, "CORN, GRAIN - YIELD, MEASURED IN BU / ACRE". Read from the public Quick Stats bulk crops file. NASS data are works of the U.S. government and in the public domain. Years are dated December 31.