An ag economist said the USDA’s 2020 corn yield projection

might be too high.

Todd Hubbs at the University of Illinois tells Brownfield

the USDA’s corn trend yield model, which draws a trend line from 1988 to the

present, has a flaw.

“If you move the starting point into the 80’s, it really

starts to increase a lot because we saw numerous crop short falls in the 80’s,”

he said.

1988 was a drought year meaning the trend line started from

a lower yield than normal, causing a higher yearly increase when drawing a line

to today.

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