This corn plant is located on our family farm in Wabash County, IN.  This stalk is 8’ out from the main field and I mow around it every week.  Normally I would mow it down so I keep the weeds cut back, but since late June it had four ears so I left it alone to see what happened.

All four potential ears are circled in red.  Two ears will provide actual kernels of corn.  The lowest ear likely will not have any kernels of value and the fourth ear died due to lack of resources.  Most of the time a corn plant will have one productive ear and maybe, just maybe, a second, smaller productive ear.

Corn plants have the ability to produce an ear at every leaf collar.  They don’t form because the plant adjusts to the resources (water, sunlight, nutrients) and pours them all into the one or two ears it can support.  This specific plant in the picture has two productive ears and “shot” four ears at pollination because it received 360 degrees of sunlight, all the water and fertility in that location.  To maximize yield we find that one ear per stalk in a high density planting provides the best results, controls the weeds and keeps the soil well covered.

If you ask a corn breeder at one of the large seed companies they will tell you corn has the ability to yield 600+ bushels per acre.  That is the “potential” in the bag at planting.  Every day following planting the environment, soils, too much rain, too little rain, insects, disease, competition from weeds, etc. take bushels off the “potential” yield.

Today Halderman farm operators use many tools to protect the plant from disease, insect pressure, and work hard to control weeds.  You might notice more aerial applicators than ever spraying crops, these are fixed wing planes and drones.  These are operators trying to protect a little more of the “potential” in each kernel.  Additionally our farmland owners may install tile drainage or irrigation to enhance their investment and unlock more of the “potential” yield.

Seed genetics are much improved allowing for more disease and insect protection in the plant.  This is a compliment to the research and development investments made by those firms in improving the protection in the seed itself.  That is the reason why we still can harvest good yields in spite of an extended dry period, high disease pressure or large rain events.

At Halderman our goal is to maximize the return on your farmland investment.  We work with our farm operators to make sure we have the farm well positioned to unlock as much “potential” as possible.  Good fertility, drainage, weed control and irrigation are all tools we discuss with our landowners.

I note there are many corn plants along the outside rows this year with two productive ears.  2025 has mostly been a good growing season so that is expected, especially on outside rows where more sun and water are available.

If you have any questions about your farm’s yield potential and how to maximize its “potential” please contact us at 800-424-2324 or www.halderman.com.