Delaware boasts strong growing year

Delaware corn and soybean farmers saw a slight decline in 2015, but only compared to 2014's phenomenal production, Department of Agriculture statistics show.

Average Delaware corn yield – corn used for animal feed, not sweet corn – was 192 bushels per acre in 2015, compared to 200 in 2014. Despite the decline, Delaware saw its second-highest growing year on record in 2015, national agriculture statistics show.

Soybean yields were recorded at 40 bushels per acre in 2015, down from 48 bushels per acre in 2014, marking the sixth highest yield year on record.

Those declines aren't necessarily bad news for Delaware growers, said Delaware Department of Agriculture Secretary Ed Kee.

“Delaware corn and soybean harvest posted another solid year,” he said in a press release. “Yields such as these are good news for our farmers and for poultry growers and processors, as they use most of Delaware's grain for feed.”

Delaware's corn production in 2015 also ranked above the national average of about 168 bushels per acre. Delaware ranked below the national average for soybean production this year, which set a record high of 48 bushels per acre, the report found.

Susan Zilberfarb, executive director of the Delaware Soybean Board, agreed that the slight decline is nothing to worry about.

“It tends to be cyclical, and farmers can grow the crop using different methods; sometimes they get a higher yield, sometimes they get a lower yield,” she said.

While the average may have declined, some farmers saw tremendous yields last year. Zilberfarb said the statewide winner of the board's annual yield contest boasted 82 bushels per acre of soybeans.

According to USDA's 2012 Census of Agriculture, soybean sales generated $102 million, while corn for grain crops were valued at $185 million. Corn and soybeans are the state's largest crops.

The 2015 report also showed a slight decline in the amount of land used for planting the two most popular crops in the First State. In 2015, Delaware recorded 170,000 acres planted with corn harvested for grain, a 10,000-acre decline from 2013. Land available for soybeans also declined by about 10,000 acres, to a total of 175,000 acres used for soybeans in 2015.

Nationwide, acreage used to grow corn for grain is down 3 percent from 2014, with a total of 88 million acres used nationwide. National soybean acreage decreased by less than 1 percent in 2015, with a total of 82.7 million acres planted with soybeans.

For the full 2015 crop summary report, go to http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/CropProdSu/CropProdSu-01-12-2016.pdf.