NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — There was a time last year when heat and drought conditions threatened key crops, but that's not how it turned out for one vegetable. What happened is historic.
"We plant several thousand acres of corn," said George McDonald, walking around his land at Catesa Farms in Riddleton.
"My great-grandfather started farming here in 1927," George said. "The farm today looks very different than when my grandfather was here. Today, we grow in six counties. We grow corn, soybeans, wheat, strawberries, watermelons."
With nearly 100 years of George's family working this land, they have just witnessed a truly historic season. The US Department of Agriculture has just announced that 2023 saw its biggest corn harvest ever.
You may remember, back during the State Fair, the theme was Year of Corn. George as chairman of the Tennessee Corn Promotional Board, was one of the people pushing for that theme, knowing how the corn harvest was turning out.
So, how much corn are we talking about nationally? The numbers show the US crop for 2023 comes out to 15.234 billion bushels. According to the USDA, that beats the previous peak year in 2016.
So, why are the numbers so big this year? George explains some of it has to do with world events.
"Ukraine is second largest exporter of corn in the world," he said. "When Russia invaded into Ukraine, it had a huge impact on the prices and commodities. Everybody got nervous. Were they going to be able to get those crops out? The US wound up with a great crop because farmers did plant more corn, but the yields were just great this year."
George also told NewsChannel 5 that US farmers are not exporting as much this year, which means they won't be getting as much per bushel for that corn as they did last year at this time. He said grocery store shoppers probably won't notice any major price differences for corn.
"I live a blessed life," George said. "I get to get up every day and do something to make a living that I enjoy doing."
