Corn Yield in Bags per Hectare

Corn yield in bags per hectare: reading productivity across summer and second crop

A standard corn bag (saca) weighs 60 kg. To get yield in bags per hectare you take the harvested grain mass, divide it by 60, then divide again by the planted area. The usual Brazilian benchmarks run like this. First-crop (verão) corn averages 100–130 sc/ha. Second-crop corn (safrinha) sits lower, somewhere between 80 and 110 sc/ha, and the weather decides where exactly. A well-managed rainfed lot can reach 150 sc/ha, while high-tech irrigated pivots clear 200 sc/ha without much trouble. Take 5,400 sacas harvested on a 45-hectare lot: that works out to 120 sc/ha. Most of the variation comes down to hybrid choice, when you sow, how you fertilize, and whether it rains during pollination.

Applications

Planning production for livestock feed (mash, silage, finishing diets). Feeding the corn-based ethanol industry in Mato Grosso and Goiás. Working out export logistics from the northern ports (arco norte). Conab and IBGE supply forecasts. Agricultural credit and revenue insurance. And hedging price risk with futures contracts at B3 and CBOT.

FAQ

Why does the safrinha yield less than the summer crop? It goes in after the soybean harvest, so it inherits a shorter rainy season, dry spells, and cold fronts right as the grain is filling. Each of those eats into the potential yield.

How much can irrigation add? A center pivot takes the water deficit out of the critical pollination and grain-filling window. That alone routinely lifts yields past 200 sc/ha, and elite hybrids sometimes get close to 300 sc/ha.

What is the moisture reference for trading? Trades usually happen at 13–14 % moisture. Anything delivered wetter than that gets discounted to cover drying and shrinkage.

Is Brazilian corn competitive for export? It is. Brazil ranks among the largest exporters worldwide, much of it moving through the arco norte, and the safrinha supplies most of what ships abroad between June and December.