Multi-Year Chopping Corn Head Study

It’s no secret that what we do to our fields outside of the planting and growing seasons often have the highest impact on our crop yield.

When it comes time to harvest corn, there is usually some degree of chopping that occurs to the corn stalk residue. However, there are different degrees to which that residue is broken down. 

In this multi-year study, we wanted to know what difference a chopping head could have on the next year’s yield. We used a Capello DIAMANT^TM chopping head to create replicated strips of chop and non-chop residue management trials.

Chopping heads allow heavy stalks and residue to break down faster to advance the degradation process and reduce the carbon penalty associated with a continuous corn environment. And it works! Our multi-year data indicates that using a chopping head produces an average yield advantage of 8.5 Bu/A. The 5.5 Bu/A yield increase in 2023 provided an economic return of $29.21/A.

Traditionally, it’s common to let your stalk residue stand tall after harvest, but the data just isn’t there to back that practice up. If you don’t have a chopping head, you are leaving a significant amount of the stalk still in the ground and large pieces of residue that are difficult to break down between your harvest and planting. This may be impacting your yield!

Study Details 

Study data collected 2017-2023 at the PTI Farm in Pontiac, IL.