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Rock County raised some of the best-yielding crops in the state in 2021, according to the recently released crop estimates by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Services.
Rock County landed in the Top 5 counties for corn yield, among the 17 counties who topped more than 60 bushels per acre for soybeans and was one of 19 counties that produced more than 20 tons of corn silage per acre in 2021.
Rock County farmers harvested 207.9 bushels per acre last year, the fifth best in the state and up from 195.3 bushels per acre in 2020.
Waseca County led corn yields in the state with 213.7 bushels per acre. Nineteen counties surpassed 200 bushels per acre.
The state average for 2021 was 178 bushels per acre.
In corn production, Renville County led the state in corn harvested for grain with 43.4 million bushels.
There were eight counties that surpassed more than 35 million bushels produced in 2021. Rock County producers harvested 26.5 million bushels last year from the 127,600 acres planted for corn production.
In soybeans, local farmers averaged 61.5 bushels per acre from 105,100 acres reserved for soybean production.
The yield average in Rock County was up from 58.3 in 2020 and was among 17 counties in the state that surpassed 60 bushels per acre in 2021.
Waseca County led the state in soybean yield with an average of 67.4 bushels per acre.
In total soybean production, Nobles County topped the state by harvesting 10.8 million bushels in 2021.
Rock County farmers harvested 6.4 million bushels last year from 105,100 harvested acres, up from 5.8 million in 2020.
Rock County also harvested silage from corn (24 tons per acre) and was among 19 counties in the state that yielded more than 20 tons per acre last year.
Houston County led the state in silage production with 28 tons per acre harvested. The state average in 2021 was 19 tons per acre.
In total silage production, Otter Tail County led all Minnesota counties with 414,000 tons. Rock County produced 232,000 tons from 9,660 acres planted for silage production in 2021.