Corn harvest went by very well this year. Early on the corn was running in the 25-30% range but we managed to get quite a few acres knocked out. By the time we were finished with soybeans the corn dropped to 16-20% which made harvesting easy. One thing that we noticed is the strip-till corn was beating the conventional-till corn by anywhere from 10-40 bu./acre. This is one of the biggest reasons we strip-till. Even in rolling terrain and lower quality soils we have seen some of the biggest yields ever thanks to strip-till. As with everything, good weather is a major factor.
The below images are a topo map and a yield map from the same field created on the same day. Despite the fact that this field has a fairly steep variation in elevation the yield is fairly consistant thanks to strip-till. The main reason for this is consistency in fertility, soil profile, and the moisture of the “zone” that the corn crop is thriving in. One inconsistency in this map is that there is a variety change half way through the field that you can spot.
