A good indication of the kind of year and the yield potential of corn and soybean in an area is to look at results from yield contests conducted around the country. In Wisconsin, both the National Corn Growers Yield Contest and the PEPS Program (Profit through Efficient Production Systems) measure yield on 10-acre fields.

In 2002, a total of 15 counties set new corn yield records and 5 counties set yield records for soybean. Seven farmers from Grant (5) and Lafayette (2) counties beat the previous highest county yield of 255 bushels per acre, which had been recorded in Manitowoc County in 1999. For soybean the highest recorded yield of 85 bushels per acre occurred in 1995 in Chippewa County.

The Wisconsin Agriculture Statistics Service indicate corn production increased 19 percent in 2002 to 392 million bushels. Corn was planted on 3.65 million acres, up 7 percent from 2001. Grain yields increased from 127 bushels per acre in 2001 to 135 bushels per acre for 2002. Soybean was planted on 1.54 million acres, 4 percent below the record 1.60 million acres planted in 2001. Yield was 44 bushels per acre, up from 37 bushels per acre last year. A record 66.9 million bushels was produced which was a 15 percent increase over 2001. Nationally corn grain yields were 130 bushels per acre and soybeans were 37.8 bushels per acre.