Once again, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) has announced some eye-popping yield numbers from its annual National Corn Yield Contest.
This year, Don Stall, of Charlotte, Michigan, topped the contest with a yield of 477.7 bushels per acre (bpa) with an irrigated cornfield.
Stall is no novice to the contest. Last year, he placed first in the irrigated corn category, with a 407.2-bpa yield, but faced some historic competition — David Hula of Charles City, Virginia, who set a world record for high corn yield with his 542-bpa field in the 2017 contest.
The contest, which is in its 54th year, divides national winners into six categories, with three winners in each. This year, those 18 winners averaged more than 349 bpa, nearly double USDA’s projected 2018 national average corn yield of 178.9 bpa.
Contest organizers noted that “weather-related adversity” was a factor in this year’s contest, but credited improved seed genetics, new production tactics and grower ingenuity with maintaining impressive yields.
“While participating in friendly competition, yield contest participants create and share information that shapes the future of the industry,” said Roger Zylstra, chair of NCGA’s Stewardship Action Team, in a press release. “Contest winners, at the state and national levels, find innovative ways to help their fellow farmers excel in a variety of situations.”
Here are the national winners in each category:
A NON-IRRIGATED
Heath Cutrell, Chesapeake, North Carolina, DEKALB DKC65-20: 360.8 bpa
George Cutrell, Chesapeake, Virginia, DEKALB DKC67-44: 324.9 bpa
Jason Greenwell, Waverly, Kentucky, Channel 218-44VT2PRIB: 319.7 bpa
AA NON-IRRIGATED
Kevin Kalb, Dubois, Indiana, DEKALB DKC67-44RIB: 388.1 bpa
Article by EmilyUngelsbee via DTNtheProgressiveFarmer