One bushel of corn is 56 pounds. That means U.S. farmers produce an average of more than 9,000 pounds of corn per acre.
If U.S. farmers used crop production practices from 1931 to produce an amount of corn equivalent to the 2008 crops, it would require 490 million acres – an area more than the state of Alaska.
The U.S. produces about 40 percent of the world’s corn – using only 20 percent of the total area harvested in the world. Individuals or families own 82 percent of corn farms. Another 6 percent are family-held corporations. Less than 15 percent of U.S. corn acres are irrigated.
Farmers today produce 70 percent more corn per pound of fertilizer than as recently as the 1970’s.
According to the USDA, corn removes about 8 tons of carbon dioxide from the air in a growing season. At 180 bushels of corn per acre, it produces enough oxygen to supply a year’s needs for 131 people.
Farmers today grow five times as much corn as they did in the 1930’s –on 20 percent less land. That is still 13 million acres or 20,000 square miles, twice the size of Massachusetts. The yield per acre has skyrocketed from 24 bushels in 1931 to an average of 154 in 2010, or a six-fold gain.
If U.S. farmers used crop production practices from 1931 to produce an amount of corn equivalent to the 2008 crops, it would require 490 million acres – an area more than the state of Alaska.
The U.S. produces about 40 percent of the world’s corn – using only 20 percent of the total area harvested in the world. Individuals or families own 82 percent of corn farms. Another 6 percent are family-held corporations. Less than 15 percent of U.S. corn acres are irrigated.
Farmers today produce 70 percent more corn per pound of fertilizer than as recently as the 1970’s.
According to the USDA, corn removes about 8 tons of carbon dioxide from the air in a growing season. At 180 bushels of corn per acre, it produces enough oxygen to supply a year’s needs for 131 people.
Farmers today grow five times as much corn as they did in the 1930’s –on 20 percent less land. That is still 13 million acres or 20,000 square miles, twice the size of Massachusetts. The yield per acre has skyrocketed from 24 bushels in 1931 to an average of 154 in 2010, or a six-fold gain.
