Corn Harvest Update

By Karl Wiggers

WINNSBORO, LA — It’s been raining every day across much of Louisiana lately, so it’s easy to forget how hot and dry this summer was for many.

Adam Faulk, a corn farmer in Franklin Parish, hasn’t forgotten. He said the rains now are something he could have used two months ago, but are a just a nuisance interfering with harvest.

“It would rain 10 miles from us, but it never would rain on the majority of our farm,” Faulk said. “We just kept water going and it was hot and dry.”

By September, most of Louisiana’s corn acreage has been harvested and it turned out to be a good crop, in spite of the heat in Northeast Louisiana. 

“I think it turned out being mighty well, to be as dry as we had it,” Faulk said.

That hot and dry weather in corn country resulted in an average crop for the state’s corn farmers overall. According to USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service, Louisiana farmers have harvested 420,000 acres of corn.

So far, the yield numbers from across the state confirm the average year, showing 174 bushels per acre being the average yield in 2018. This is in line with the five-year average of Louisiana corn yields, which is 175 bushels per acre.

Faulk did not have exact yield numbers, but confirmed these trends.  This year’s crop was almost completely dependent on irrigation he said.

“I think corn did mighty well for the year that we had — it wasn’t a bumper crop, and it wasn’t a bad crop — its just a good average crop."