Cornfields across Sussex County and throughout Delaware are maturing now, ahead of the harvest which will be starting in a few weeks.

This photograph from 1930 shows a group of Future Farmers of America students judging corn production at a Delaware field. That was back in a time when yields of 65 to 100 bushels per acre were considered exceptionally strong.

Now, with hybrid strains, pest control, advanced fertilizers and irrigation, yields well over 200 bushels per acre - and even approaching 300 bushels per acre - are more the norm for Delaware production.