Dane County leads the pack in corn for grain production

USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service recently released Wisconsin’s row crop county estimates for the 2022 harvest. Yields are calculated by dividing a county’s production by its area harvested. Only published estimates wereconsidered in rankings of counties.

In 2022, Rock County led all Wisconsin counties in total soybean production, with 5.95 million bushels according to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Dodge (5.36 million), Dane (5.26 million), Grant (5.24 million) and Lafayette (4.43 million) rounded out the top five counties with the highest production.

Statewide, nine counties averaged at least 60.0 bushels per acre. Lafayette County had the highest yield with an average of 67.6 bushels per acre. Grant (65.2), Green (64.8), Dodge (63.9), and Iowa (62.2) rounded out the top five highest yielding counties. Bayfield County recorded the lowest average yield at 30.0 bushels per acre.

Dane County was the highest–ranking county for corn for grain production with 28.8 million bushels produced in 2022. Rock, Grant, Dodge, and Lafayette rounded out the top five. Columbia was the sixth county with production of more than 20 million bushels.

Lafayette was the state’s leader in corn yield, with an average yield of 217.5 bushels per acre. Grant (211.3), Rock (204.8), Green (199.1), and Dane (197.4) counties rounded out the top five. Four other counties surpassed the 190 bushel mark in 2022, which included Dodge, Walworth, Columbia, and Jefferson.

Marathon County topped the state last year in total corn silage production with 1,057,000 tons. Manitowoc (1,027,000), Dane (957,000), Fond du Lac (929,000), and Clark (823,000) rounded out the top five highest–producing counties.

Dane, Buffalo, and Lafayette Counties tied for the highest yield, with an average of 26.5 tons per acre harvested. Grant, Richland, and Columbia had the next highest yield, at 25.5 tons per acre.