Corn on-corn took some lumps in 2010 and 2011. In some cases, reports of 60 to 70 bushel per acre yield decreases occurred in Illinois for corn-on-corn vs. corn rotated with soybeans grown under similar practices in 2011.

Still, growers aren’t giving up in 2012.

“We used to be in the low 20s (millions of acres) for corn-on-corn, says Ty Vaughn, U.S. corn product management lead for Monsanto. “Now, we are pushing 28 million acres of corn-on-corn.” The boom in planting more corn—USDA’s 95.9 million acre estimate for 2012 is the highest since 1937—is prompting corn-on-corn acres to grow.