Corn growers have indeed kept up (Editorial)

Here’s news which may provide some solace to the Doubting Thomases who complained, loudly at times, that U.S. farmers could not produce enough corn to meet the demands of three markets — for food, feed and fuel.
The USDA on Aug. 12 unveiled a report indicating that America’s farmers are on track to produce a record corn crop and record yield per acre in 2010.
And that would be despite the drought-withered yields being forecast for the Mid-Atlantic.
If the National Ag Statistics Service figures are realized, they would eclipse previous records established in 2009 and confirm once again that the veteran players at the table don’t bet against the U.S. farmer.
The USDA said that corn producers are expected to harvest a record crop of 13.37 billion bushels— that’s 2.5 percent larger than the previous record set in 2009.
USDA also is projecting a record yield of 165 bushels per acre, slightly above last year’s previous record of 164.7 bushels.
Geoff Cooper, vice president of the Renewable Fuels Asspociation, noted that if the USDA figures hold through harvest, the 2010 crop would be the third 13 billion-bushel crop on record and that it would emerge on nearly six million fewer acres than the first 13 billion bushel crop just three years ago.  
Also of note, this year’s crop, again if the USDA numbers hold, would be twice as large as the corn crop produced 30 years ago in 1980, but it will require only 4.6 percent more acres.
With Mid-Atlantic yields in the tank, the big crops have got to come from elsewhere in the country.
Forecasted yields are higher than last year across the upper Mississippi Valley and upper Great Lakes region where moderate temperatures and adequate soil moisture provided favorable growing conditions.
Expected yields are also higher compared with last year across the southern Great Plains and lower Mississippi Valley.
For those of us who can remember picking corn by hand and throwing the cobs against the buckboard of a wagon pulled by a mule, the predicted record corn yields are jaw-dropping, as is the agricultural technology and know-how that has lifted us from 40 bushels an acre to heights we would not have imagined.
The intriguing and nagging question is, how high can they go?