What Is Crop Yield?
Crop yield is a standard measurement of the amount of agricultural production harvested per unit of land area. It's the measure most often used for cereal, grain, or legumes and it's typically measured in bushels, tons, or pounds per acre in the United States.
Sample sizes of a harvested crop are generally measured to determine the estimated crop yield for a larger region.
Key Takeaways
- Crop yields refer to how much grain or other crops are produced and how efficiently land is used to produce food or agricultural commodities.
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture takes samples and estimates crop yields for nearly two dozen crops in the United States.
- Crop yield and farm efficiency have increased dramatically over the past decades as technology has advanced in farm automation, crop genetics, fertilizers, and pesticides.
- The U.S. government also monitors the crop yields of foreign countries to help track their economic health.
- Several governments also publish their crop yield reports to the public.
How Crop Yield Works
Producers usually count the amount of a given crop harvested in a sample area to estimate crop yield. The harvested crop is then weighed and the crop yield of the entire field is extrapolated from the sample.
The crop yield estimate using the standard formula would be 30 x 24 x 35 x 0.04356 = 1,097 kg/acre if a wheat producer counted 30 heads per foot squared and each head contained 24 seeds, assuming a 1,000-kernel weight of 35 grams. The estimated yield would be 40 bu/acre (1097/27.215) or 40 bushels per acre because wheat is 27.215 kg/bu.
Crop yield can also refer to the actual seed generation from the plant. A grain of wheat yielding three new grains of wheat would have a crop yield of 1:3. Crop yield is sometimes referred to as "agricultural output."
Crop yield data is vital in a global economy to measure whether the crops that are produced can adequately provide enough food for a nation's food supply, livestock feed, and energy sources.
Crop Yield Statistics
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) produces charts and maps that display crop yields, crop weather, and crop acreage animations. They help U.S. farmers maximize agricultural product output. The USDA provides many statistics about crop yields for various agricultural products. It publishes a monthly report of field crop yields for dozens of products including barley, rice, tobacco, and wheat.
Part of this information is the absolute high and low yield for the entire history of the data series, some of which extend back over 150 years. The absolute low crop yield for many products occurred in the 1930s during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl years. High crop yield has regularly occurred in the years since 2000.
Crop yields, farm efficiency, and agricultural product output in the U.S. have increased dramatically as technology has advanced in farm automation, crop genetics, fertilizers, and pesticides.
Special Considerations
Crop yield data is important not only in the U.S. but abroad as well. Declassified CIA documents show that the U.S. government has used satellite reconnaissance imagery to estimate the crop yields of foreign countries. This was particularly important in the 1960s during the height of the Cold War when the U.S. was using such methods to assess the agricultural health of China and the Soviet Union.
Foreign countries frequently publish crop yield statistics on their government websites, similar to what the USDA does in the U.S.
What Is the Most Harvested Crop in the U.S.?
Corn production reached an estimated record high of 15.3 billion bushels in 2023, according to a January 2024 USDA report. This is an estimated increase of 12% from 2022 statistics.
How Did the Great Depression Affect U.S. Crops?
Farmers made up about 25% of the population at the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929. Farm product prices then plunged 39% by Q3 of 1930. This was significantly more than other product prices or even the consumer price index at the time. It affected farmers' ability to invest more in planting and harvesting future crops.
What Country Has the Highest Crop Yield?
This statistic can be difficult to pinpoint because it varies by crop. A specific country's climate might make it more ideal for corn and another country's climate might be perfect for cocoa. The United Kingdom produced the most wheat in 2022. The United States took the top spot for tomato production in that year and Brazil took the honor for coffee beans.
The Bottom Line
A crop yield is a measurement of the quantity of specific crops produced in a cited region. The yield varies by crop and the USDA monitors almost two dozen. Crop yield and farm efficiency in the U.S. plunged during the Great Depression but they've increased significantly in the 2000s thanks to technology. A nation’s food supply and energy sources depend on healthy crop yields and this can affect consumers by trickling down to pricing.
FAQs
Crop yield is a standard measurement of the amount of agricultural production harvested per unit of land area. It's the measure most often used for cereal, grain, or legumes and it's typically measured in bushels, tons, or pounds per acre in the United States.
What is the formula for crop yield? ›
Count the number of grains in at least 20 heads or pods and average (B) Using Table 1 determine the grain weight for the crop concerned (C) Yield in t/ha = (A × B × C) / 10,000.
What is the definition of crop yield? ›
Simply put, crop yield is the amount of crop harvested per area of land. Typically, it is used in reference to corn, cereals, grains, or legumes, and it may be reported in kilograms/hectare or metric tons/hectare. Sometimes crop yield is referred to as 'agricultural output'.
What is the formula for harvesting yield? ›
Total harvest of the plot is obtained by multiplying total number of units harvested by the average unit weight. Crop productivity can then be calculated by dividing total production by the area from where the production came from.
What is the formula for crop productivity? ›
The formula is H/P x Y where H is acres harvested, P is acres planted and Y is the yield per acre. Example, 20,000 acres was planted in crop X. The yield for the crop was 50 bushels per acre. 18,000 were actually harvested.
Is crop yield good or bad? ›
Increasing crop yields can reduce the amount of land we use for agriculture. Crop yields might seem far from being one of the world's largest problems. But, if yields and labor productivity do not increase, it will have far-reaching consequences for global poverty and the protection of the environment.
What is the formula for yield? ›
To calculate yield, a security's net realized return is divided by the principal amount.
What is the formula for yield method? ›
The quick formula for Earnings Yield is E/P, earnings divided by price.
What is the #1 crop grown in America? ›
The largest United States crop in terms of total production is corn, the majority of which is grown in a region known as the Corn Belt. The second largest crop grown in the United States is soybeans. As with corn, soybeans are primarily grown in the Midwestern states.
What causes crop yield? ›
Therefore, to achieve yield potential requires perfection in the management of all other yield-deter- mining production factors (such as plant population; the supply and balance of 17 essential nutrients; and protection against losses from insects, weeds, and diseases) from sowing to maturity.
During a single season, the yield is measured as a crop produced on a given piece of land. Kilogram per hectare or bushels per acre are the units by which the yield of a crop is usually measured now – a – days. The surplus crops which are beyond the needs of the subsistence agriculture can be sold or bartered.
How do you calculate yield data? ›
How to calculate yield
- Determine the market value or initial investment of the stock or bond.
- Determine the income generated from the investment.
- Divide the market value by the income.
- Multiply this amount by 100.
Get your yield percentage by converting the edible product weight into a percentage. The formula is EP weight ÷ AP weight × 100 = yield %.
How to calculate crop loss? ›
The Loss (L) is a function of the crop type the arrival time and the duration. The loss is computed by taking the exposed value and multiplying it by the damage percentage computed by the crop type, arrival time of the flood and the duration of the event.
How to calculate crop yield? ›
The crop yield estimate using the standard formula would be 30 x 24 x 35 x 0.04356 = 1,097 kg/acre if a wheat producer counted 30 heads per foot squared and each head contained 24 seeds, assuming a 1,000-kernel weight of 35 grams.
What is the formula for yield productivity? ›
First pass yield = (number of good units produced / total number of units produced) x 100First pass yield refers to the turnout of a production cycle or the number of goods a company can actually sell to customers after the production process.
What is the formula for crop cut yield? ›
It involves demarcation of a subplot within the field/plot followed by measurement of production and area under the crop. In some cases, measurement is done on more than one subplot and an average taken. Crop yield is then calculated as total production divided by total harvested area in the crop cut subplot(s).
Which crop has the highest yield? ›
The most important High Yield Crops (HYVs) are in wheat, corn, soybean, rice, potato, and cotton. They are heavily used in commercial and plantation farms. HYVs become popular in the 1960s and play an important role in the Green Revolution, although their ancestral roots can be older.
What is the average yield per acre? ›
The average yield in the United States was estimated at a record high 177.3 bushels per acre, 3.9 bushels above the 2022 yield of 173.4 bushels per acre.
What is the average yield per acre of wheat? ›
Wheat yield per harvested acre 2001-2023
According to the report, the U.S. wheat yield per harvested acre amounted to about 48.6 bushels in 2023.
Production Yield Percentage refers to the percentage of non-defective items out of all items produced by an entity, and is commonly designated by the proportion of the number of non-defective items against the number of manufactured items. Yield = the number of non-defective items / the number of manufactured items.
What is the formula for food yield? ›
Get your yield percentage by converting the edible product weight into a percentage. The formula is EP weight ÷ AP weight × 100 = yield %.
What is the formula for yield return? ›
Determine the market value or initial investment of the stock or bond. Determine the income generated from the investment. Divide the market value by the income. Multiply this amount by 100.
How do you calculate plant yield percentage? ›
Percent yield of all extracts were calculated using following formula: Yield (%) = Weights of solvent free extract ( g ) × 100 Dried extract weight .
