23% increase in corn acreage since 2000

Posted on March 3, 2014

As we hopefully soon leave the snow behind and head towards planting season it is intriguing to look at how and where the amount of corn planted in the US has grown over the last number of years.

If we look only at the time since 2000, we have seen a substantial 23% increase, and while almost all corn producing states have seen some sort of growth, the size of the increase has varied a lot between states.

The big winners in percentage terms have been Arkansas (up 556%), North Dakota (up 361%) and Mississippi (up 244%). While Mississippi and Arkansas are relatively small producers (around 1,000,000 acres planted in each), North Dakota has become a major producer, now essentially planting the same acreage as Ohio (roughly 3,900,000 acres). It has added a massive 2.8 million acres in just 13 years, with most of that increase being quite recent. This is especially evident in this map which shows the change just from 2006 through to 2012.

In terms of the largest areas planted, Iowa continues to lead with 14 million acres (up14%) followed by Illinois with 12.2 million acres (up 9%) and Nebraska with 10.2 million acres (up 20%). Rounding up the top 6, which together represent about 60% of corn acreage planted are Minnesota (8.7 million), Indiana (6.1 million), and South Dakota (5.9 million).

This map gives a nice overview of the concentration of production, including the extension now up into North Dakota.