Sangamon, Macon produce top yield averages

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Sangamon and Macon counties had the top average corn and soybean yields, respectively, in 2024.

County yields and production estimates in Illinois were recently released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Corn

Sangamon County averaged of 248.2 bushels per acre, followed by McLean’s 246.7. Rounding out the top Illinois counties for average corn yields in 2024 were Macon, 243.8; Menard, 241.7; Piatt, 241.1; and Bureau, 240.8.

Counties with corn yields in the 230s were Carroll, 239.2; Knox, 238.2; Tazewell, 235.3; Ogle, 235.1; Logan, 234.5; Kane, 233.7; Livingston, 231.4; and Whiteside, 230.2.

Those counties with yields in the 220s were Greene, 229.1; Morgan, 228.5; Hancock, 228.2; Coles, 227.6; Cumberland, 226.3; Stark, 225.3; Douglas, 225.3; La Salle, 225; Edgar, 222.6; and Stephenson, 220.4.

Rounding out the counties with averages of 200 to 219 bushels per acre were Peoria, 218.4; Vermilion, 218; Effingham, 217.5; Iroquois, 213.8; Boone, 212.8; Jo Daviess, 212.2; Winnebago, 210.9; Fulton, 208.4; Clark, 208; Macoupin, 206.4; Montgomery, 205; Scott, 200.7; and Pike, 200.2.

Stark County held the distinction of have the highest yield average in the state the previous two years with 234.1 on 85,300 harvested acres in 2023 and 240.6 on 84,700 acres in 2022.

McLean led all counties in production with 76.231 million bushels, on 309,000 acres, followed by Livingston’s 67.685 million, on 292,500 acres.

Iroquois harvested 66.171 million bushels on 309,500 acres; La Salle, 62.663 million on 278,500 acres; and Bureau, 58.514 million on 243,000 acres.

Illinois farmers harvested 10.650 million corn acres for grain, averaging 217 bushels per acre, for a total production of just over 2.311 billion bushels in 2024.

Soybeans

Sixteen counties hit the 70-plus bushel per acre average plateau in 2024, led by Macon’s 77.8. Others in the top five were Piatt, 77.6; Sangamon, 77.3; Tazewell, 74.9; and Woodford, 74.4.

The remaining counties at the 70-plus bushel mark were McLean, 74.2; Logan, 74; Bureau, 72.9; Morgan, 72.8; Edgar, 71.2; Coles, 71.2; Vermilion, 70.6; Greene, 70.5; Carroll, 70.3; Whiteside, 70.1; and Douglas, 70.

Counties hitting yield averages in the 60s were Livingston, 69.3; Peoria, 69.2; Knox, 67.6; La Salle, 67; Mason, 67; Stephenson, 66.3 Iroquois, 65.3; Macoupin, 65.1; Hancock, 64.3; Pike, 63.8; Kane, 63.7; Jersey, 63.7; Montgomery, 63.6; Clark, 63.3; Boone, 62.9; Fulton, 62.4; and Brown, 60.6.

Tazewell had the top 2023 soybean yield average at 74.7 across 120,400 harvested acres.

McLean led in soybean production with 22.634 million bushels on 305,000 harvested acres, followed by Livingston’s 19.508 million on 281,500 acres.

Iroquois produced 19.166 million bushels of soybeans on 293,500 acres, La Salle hit 17.253 million on 257,500 acres, Vermilion had 14.685 million on 208,000 acres and Sangamon harvested 14.061 million on 182,000 acres.

The Prairie State produced 688 million bushels of soybeans, averaging 64 bushels per acre across 10.75 million harvested acres.