Sections of the southern U.S. have begun their corn harvest, with mixed yield reports.

National Agricultural Statistics Service numbers show the corn harvest starting from Texas and Arkansas to South Carolina. Louisiana growers are the farthest ahead with 20% of their corn harvested. Mississippi's harvest was estimated at 11%, 7% in Texas, and 6% in Arkansas and South Carolina.

Dow Jones Newswires calculates that the early returns make up 412,000 acres - only 0.5% of the 85.418 million acres USDA expects to be harvested.

"Early indications from dryland corn (indicate) yields are better than expected," Sharkey County, Mississippi extension agent Robert Martin says in a Dow Jones Newswires release, but the South Carolina Ag Statistics Service says, "Corn harvesting continued, with disappointing yield reported in several areas."