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McHistory goes back in time to explore big moments and small stories from McLean County history. McHistory episodes can be heard periodically on WGLT's Sound Ideas.
The average corn yield last year in McLean County was nearly 247 bushels per acre. That's enough to blow the minds of the grandfathers of today's farmers. Agriculture has changed nearly beyond recognition in less than a century.
“The 100 Bushel Corn Club is a program open to all farmers in McLean County. It doesn’t matter what present corn yields are now, all farmers are urged to join the club,” wrote Eugene Mossbacher, McLean County Farm Advisor, in 1952.
The first 100 bushel per acre corn yield in McLean County happened in 1931 at the GJ Mecherle experimental farm east of Bloomington. It was on a test plot, and McLean County Museum of History Librarian Bill Kemp said it happened only with very "energetic" efforts to get to the 100-bushel plateau. Most farmers couldn't dream of attaining that yield for several more decades.
