Illinois Counties Tops In Amber Waves Of Grain

Mar 23, 2023

By Charlie Schlenker

McLean and Piatt counties led the nation in corn and soybean categories last year.

The U.S. Agriculture Department says McLean County farmers harvested nearly 71 million bushels of corn in 2022, the most of any county in the nation. Piatt County farmers averaged 74.2 bushels per acre of soybean yields, again tops in the country.

“Our Illinois farmers have once again proved why agriculture is the No. 1 industry in the state of Illinois,” said Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Jerry Costello. “Our agricultural reach goes far beyond our state. In 2022, Illinois exports of corn and soybeans to the world totaled over $3.5 billion.”

The top five corn-producing counties in the nation are all in central Illinois, including in order after McLean: Iroquois, Livingston, LaSalle, and Champaign. In soybean yield, the top 11 counties are all in Illinois. Number two through 11 are Macon, Sangamon, Scott, Logan, Tazewell, Stark, Morgan, Christian, Champaign, and Woodford counties.

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Video: What Happens When Pigs Adapt to High Soybean Meal Diets? - Gustavo Lima

In this special rerun episode of The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Gustavo Lima, PhD candidate in Animal Science at Iowa State University, discusses how grow-finish pigs respond to high soybean meal diets. He explains the initial drop in feed intake, changes in backfat, later adaptation, energy efficiency, amino acid utilization, and the rise in nitrogen excretion at higher inclusion levels. Listen now on all major platforms!

Click here to read the full research article: https://academic.oup.com/jas/article/...

“Once they got adapted to the diet, they can handle higher levels of inclusion of soybean meal.”

Meet the guest: Gustavo Lima / gustavo-lima-a9867127 is a PhD candidate in Animal Science at Iowa State University whose work focuses on swine nutrition, ingredient characterization, energy metabolism, caloric efficiency, and applied data analysis. With more than 15 years of experience in swine production across Latin America, Gustavo also brings expertise in environmental control, performance evaluation, barn ventilation, and grow-finish housing. Learn more from Gustavo Lima on The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.