Colorado Corn Growers Association

THE COLORADO CORN STORY
Prepared by Harold D. Smedley

Corn, a very minor commodity crop early in Colorado’s history, has advanced to become the top producing grain crop in the state since 1986. When records began in 1879, Colorado producers harvested only 455 thousand bushels of corn from 23,000 acres which averaged 19.8 bushels per acre. In 1996 producers harvested 133.48 million bushels from 960,000 acres averaging 142.0 bushels per acre. In addition 90,000 acres of corn were harvested for silage, which yielded 1.9 million tons of feed for the state’s dairy and beef cattle. The value of the 1996 corn grain and silage crops was estimated at an all-time high of $414 million.

Corn acreage increased steadily from 1879 through 1896, declined slightly for the next three years, and then increased every year from 1900 through 1917 when 840 thousand acres were harvested. In 1920 more than 1 million acres were harvested, and the all-time high acreage in the state was reached in 1932 when 1.86 million acres were harvested for all purposes. In that year, 1.49 million acres were harvested for grain, 69 thousand acres were harvested for silage, and 298 thousand acres were utilized as forage. The planted acreage in 1932 was 2.58 million acres. Adverse weather conditions in that year caused 721 thousand acres to be abandoned. Except for 1934, producers harvested more than 1.0 million acres for all purposes each year during 1920 through 1938. The harvested acreage then moved downward to a low of 366 thousand acres in 1964. Another upward movement increased the acreage to just over 1.0 million again in 1979.

In earlier years, corn was primarily grown under dry land conditions and crop yields were highly vulnerable to moisture shortages and/or hot drying winds at pollination time. The state’s average yield for grain corn did not reach above 30 bushels per acre until 1956 when just over 68 percent of the harvested acreage was grown under irrigation. Between 1975 and 1990, more than 95 percent of the state’s corn for grain crop was produced on irrigated land. However, since 1991 more eastern Colorado producers have begun using dry land corn in rotation with other dry land crops such as wheat, sunflowers, and millet (including a year of summer fallow in the mix, depending on soil moisture supplies). The percentage of dry land corn has increased to nearly 12 percent of the total in 1996.

Faced with large Colorado crops, large national crops and building surpluses of corn, the Colorado Corn Growers Association (CCGA) worked in 1987 to establish a marketing order for corn. By statewide referendum, corn growers passed a 1 cent-per-bushel assessment on corn produced in Colorado. The funds are managed by the 11 farmer-member, farmer-elected board and alternates of the Colorado Corn Administrative Committee (CCAC), and are invested in programs to stimulate long-term marketing opportunities through education, research and development, and market promotion. Harold Smedley was the first Executive Director of CCAC and CCGA, and he served in that position until October 1998. James Geist assumed the position of Executive Director in 1998.

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