News Local/State

Illinois Top US Soybean Producer In 2013

By The Associated Press
 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says Illinois was the country's leading producer of soybeans and second-largest corn producer last year.

The department said Friday that Illinois farmers harvested 462 million bushels of soybeans in 2013. That's a 20 percent increase over 2012.
 
The USDA says the state's corn production was 2.1 billion bushels. That was 63 percent more than 2012's drought-impacted crop and more than any state other than Iowa.

Farmers in Iowa harvested 2.16 billion bushels in 2013.

Illinois and Iowa are traditionally the country's top producers of both corn and soybeans.