Corn comes in at No. 3 in terms of acreage planted in the state of Tennessee, trailing hay and soybeans. The state’s corn production ranks 19th in the nation.
The 2019 Tennessee Economic Report finds Tennessee farmers harvested 119.2 million bushels of corn in 2018. Interestingly, while the state’s production has declined by 6% during the last five years due to fewer acres planted, yields have increased by 8% during the same period.
Back at Lynchburg, Jack Daniel’s is using about 7 million bushels a year from Tennessee and other states. If it were to purchase all its corn from Tennessee, that would account for almost 6 percent of the state’s annual production.
Sources: 2017 Census of Agriculture State Profile, An Economic Report to the Governor of the State of Tennessee (2019, University of Tennessee)
– Jim Myers