The 2025 U.S. corn harvest is officially underway in parts of the country, with early activity concentrated in the southern states. According to USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey, harvest progress is slightly ahead of the five-year average, but crop conditions are starting to show signs of stress due to continued dry weather.
“Four percent of U.S. acreage harvested by September 7th, one point ahead of the five-year average, two points behind last year’s five percent.”
Rippey reports that most early harvest activity is occurring outside the traditional Corn Belt.
“Most of the harvest so far, as you would expect, occurring outside and south of the Corn Belt. We do see numbers as high as 69 percent harvested in Texas, 44 percent in North Carolina.”
Only a few states in the Corn Belt have reported any progress, with Missouri leading the way.
“We only have three states reporting any harvest progress at all. Led by Missouri, nine percent harvested. That is nearly twice the five-year average, five percent. That’s one of our dry states recently.”
Illinois and Indiana are just getting started:
“Illinois, getting started at two percent harvested versus one percent on average, and one percent harvested so far in Indiana.”
While harvest begins, crop conditions are beginning to decline, especially in the southern and eastern Corn Belt.
“Corn conditions slipping just a little bit more this week as the generally dry weather continues and the crop is running out of moisture in the south and parts of the eastern Corn Belt. Sixty-eight percent good to excellent, down a point from last week, and steady at nine percent, very poor to poor.”
Compared to last year, the national corn crop is still in better shape overall.
“That still compares favorably to last year at this time when corn was rated 64 percent good to excellent and 12 percent very poor to poor.”
However, Illinois stands out as a concern.
“Even with all that, there is only one state with more than 15 percent of the crop rated very poor to poor on September 7th. That is Illinois. Their number, 17 percent, very poor to poor.”
As the corn harvest 2025 continues to expand northward, all eyes will be on how dry conditions influence final yields.
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet. US Corn Harvest Getting Started in Parts of the Country
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