US Crop Production & Agriculture Data

Corn is the most-produced crop in the United States by volume, with Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska leading production. The U.S. produces over 15 billion bushels of corn annually, making it the world's largest corn producer. Most American corn is used for animal feed (about 36%), ethanol production (about 34%), and exports (about 12%), with only a small fraction consumed directly as food. Soybeans rank second in production volume, followed by wheat, cotton, and rice.

Iowa and Illinois are the top crop-producing states for commodity crops, leading the nation in both corn and soybean production. California leads in fruit, vegetable, and specialty crop production, generating the highest agricultural revenue of any state at over $50 billion annually. Texas leads in cotton and cattle, while North Dakota leads in spring wheat, durum wheat, and sunflowers. Agricultural dominance varies significantly by crop type, which is why we break down production data by both state and crop.

Crop Review uses data from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), which conducts hundreds of surveys and the Census of Agriculture every five years. NASS surveys cover planted and harvested acreage, yield per acre, total production, and farm-level economics across all 50 states. The data is collected through mail surveys, phone interviews, and field observations, and is the same dataset used by commodity traders, agricultural lenders, and federal policymakers. NASS publishes crop production reports monthly during the growing season.

Crop yield measures the amount of a crop harvested per acre, typically expressed in bushels per acre for grain crops. Yield is one of the most important metrics in agriculture because it reflects soil quality, weather conditions, farming practices, and seed genetics for a given area. Rising yields over decades have allowed U.S. farmers to produce dramatically more food on less land. Average U.S. corn yield has increased from about 70 bushels per acre in the 1960s to over 175 bushels per acre today, driven by hybrid seed technology, precision farming, and improved fertilizer use.

USDA NASS publishes crop production estimates on a regular schedule throughout the year. During the growing season (May through November), monthly Crop Production reports provide updated acreage, yield, and production estimates. The annual Crop Production Summary is released in January and provides final production figures for the prior year. We update Crop Review data after each major NASS release. The Census of Agriculture, which provides the most detailed farm-level data, is conducted every five years, with the most recent in 2022.

Planted acres represent the total acreage where a crop was seeded, while harvested acres represent the acreage where the crop was actually collected. The difference, called abandonment, occurs when crops fail due to drought, flooding, pest damage, or disease. In a normal year, abandonment rates are relatively low (2-5% for major crops), but severe weather events can cause abandonment rates to spike above 20% in affected regions. Tracking the gap between planted and harvested acres is an important indicator of crop health and the impact of extreme weather on food production.