The corn harvest finished in the southern and eastern parts of the state with generally pretty good yields and some outstanding ones, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agronomist.

“In the Gulf Coast region, yields were generally between 130 bushels per acre on the lower side and 150 bushels per acre on the higher end,” said Dr. Ronnie Schnell, AgriLife Extension state cropping systems specialist, College Station. “So things were pretty good overall in that area.”
Thanks to cooler conditions, timely rains and good management, yields were considerably better in the Blacklands region along the U.S. Interstate-35 corridor, Schnell said.

“We had some outstanding yields in that part of the state. A lot of areas were in the 150 to 180 bushel per acre range,” he said. “And some areas were at 180 to over 200 bushels per acre, which is really just outstanding for that part of the state.”

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About half the state’s annual 2 million acres of corn is grown in the Texas High Plains, and though harvest of some early planted corn has begun, most of the crop, though mature, won’t be dried down and ready for harvest for at least another month, according to Schnell.

The recent rains in the High Plains came a little late to help the crop, he said.

“I’m really not sure what the yields are going to look like there yet,” Schnell said. “I think some folks were worried about catching timely rains. There are some who may have missed out. It’s just uncertain right now what it’s going to look like altogether.”

However, considering that many corn growers got a late start planting because of cold weather, plus a late freeze that bit some early planted corn, the yields so far have been surprising, he said.

“It started out really dry, but we got some good moisture later, and we ended up with some good yields we haven’t seen in a long time,” he said.

Jim Swart, integrated pest management specialist in commerce, Texas, says the Northeast corner of the state also produced a good corn crop.

“The corn crop in northeast Texas was very good, with most producers reporting yields in excess of 100 bushels per acre,” Swart said. “Some of the better soils produced corn yields of over 150 bushels per acre. Grain sorghum yields were also very good where the sugarcane aphid was kept under control, and 5000 pound yields were common across the region.”
More information on the current Texas drought and wildfire alerts can be found on the AgriLife Extension Agricultural Drought Task Force website.