Corn Yields Have Increased Six Times Since 1940

The chart above displays annual U.S. corn yields (bushels per acre) back to 1866 (USDA data here).  After remaining flat between 1866 and 1939 at about 26 bushels per acre, corn yields started increasing dramatically in the 1940s due to the introduction of hybrid seeds, and the widespread use of nitrogen fertilizers and herbicides (source).  By 2009, average corn yields had increased by more than six times to a record high 165 bushels per acre, before falling last year to 153 bushels per acre.  

According to the Corn Farmers Coalition:

"Farmers today grow five times as much corn as they did in the 1930s – on 20 percent less land. That is 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 154 now, or a six-fold gain. And the Agriculture Department expects the average yield per acre to double in the next 25 years."

MP: I'm not sure how this fits in with the "Great Stagnation" story, but it appears that the amazing productivity gains for corn production over the last 70 years will continue into the future.

HT: Lee Coppock

Update: The chart below shows that real, inflation-adjusted corn prices have trended downward over time as corn yields have increased, from $16 per bushel in 1948 (2010 dollars) to about $4 per bushel in 2010.