Iowa's 2009 harvest: Good, but no records

Iowa corn and soybean farmers harvested a good crop in 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but no records were broken.

Nationally, record corn and soybean crops were harvested along with record yields.

Corn for grain production in Iowa was estimated at 2.44 billion bushels in 2009, down fractionally from the Nov. 1 forecast, but up 11 percent from 2008. Iowa's farmers averaged 182 bushels per acre, down 1 bushel from the Nov. 1 forecast, but 11 bushels per acre higher than last year's yield.

Iowa corn producers harvested 13.4 million acres, nearly 5 percent above 2008. Corn planted for all purposes in Iowa, at 13.7 million acres, was up 3 percent from 2008.

Iowa soybean production is estimated at 486 million bushels in 2009, unchanged from the Nov. 1 forecast, but up 8 percent from 2008. Farmers averaged 51 bushels per acre, unchanged from the Nov. 1 forecast, but 4.5 bushels higher than 2008.

Iowa farmers harvested 9.53 million acres of soybeans, more than 1 percent below the 2008 estimate. The planted acreage of soybeans, at 9.6 million acres, is 2 percent below 2008.

Heavy rains kept many Iowa corn producers from harvesting until late fall.

Nationally, overall corn production is estimated at a record 13.2 billion bushels, up 2 percent from the Nov. 1 forecast, and 1 percent above the previous record of 13 billion bushels set in 2007. Corn yield is estimated at a record 165.2 bushels per acre for 2009, up 2.3 bushels from the Nov. 1 forecast and 4.9 bushels above the previous record of 160.3 bushels per acre set in 2004.

The nation's soybean farmers produced an estimated record 3.36 billion bushels in 2009, up 1 percent from the Nov. 1 forecast and up 13 percent from 2008. The average yield per acre is estimated at a record 44 bushels of soybeans, 0.7 bushels above the Nov. 1 forecast and 4.3 bushels above last year's yield.

Harvested soybean acreage is up 2 percent from 2008 to a record 76.4 million acres.