Just when you thought you’d seen enough corn fields in Illinois, this year’s statistics have shown corn is at its highest level in 73 years.

In the National Agricultural Statistics Service Acreage report for 2007, released at the end of June, it is reported that the nation has increased its production of corn by 19 percent since 2006, while soy production has decreased by 15 percent.

According to the report, corn acres are at their highest acreage amount since 1944, at 92.9 million acres in 2007 versus 95.5 million acres in 1944.

“The increase in corn production is driven by bio ethanol production,” said Dale Lattz, extension specialist in farm management at the University.

An increase in the profitability of corn has acted as an incentive for farmers to increase production, he said.

“Many have been switching from soy to corn,” Lattz said.

The largest decrease in soy production in the country has been in Illinois, down 1.75 million acres from last year. However, corn reached its record high in Illinois with a 1.9 million acre increase.

This year there was also a 15.8 percent increase in crop acre value for Illinois.

With 13.2 million acres, Illinois is only trails Iowa among the nation’s top producers of corn.

As corn has begun to outproduce soy products in Illinois, some worry about the effect it will have on the environment.

“More corn means more nitrogen fertilizer, there’s not a lot of doubt about that,” said Emerson Nafziger, professor and extension specialist of crop production.

Corn needs nitrogen to grow whereas soybeans do not require as much, he said.

One worry about nitrogen runoff is its effect when it gets into drinking water, which mostly comes off of tile surface draining.

Tile surface draining is made with plastic and is installed three to five feet down in the soil as a way to drain the excess water.

A lot of the farmers in the Champaign-Urbana area have tile draining because of the flat plains they grow crops on, Nafziger said.

“In streams, (nitrogen) will cause algae and other microorganisms to grow faster,” Nafziger said. “There’s an EPA advisory for what the level should be. A few towns that get water right out of the river might have to treat it before using it.”

Nafziger said he does not feel that nitrogen runoff is a major problem in Illinois.

“No one wants nitrate in water, but the amounts that go into the river are at a low percentage,” Nafziger said. “We’d still like to reduce that number.”