David Hula has set the bar for corn-yield excellence once again, winning the National Corn Growers Association’s 2025 Corn Yield Contest with 572.2589 bushels per acre (bpa). The Charles City, Va., farmer’s entry was in the Class H category (strip-till irrigated).
The win, Hula’s 14th national title in the contest, solidifies a long legacy of achievement and commitment to pushing the limits of corn production.
A Look At Hula’s Previous Records
While the 2025 winning yield of 572.2589 bpa is impressive, it is not Hula’s personal best.
- He won the 2023 NCGA contest with a record yield of 623.8439 bu. per acre—the highest to date.
- That yield beat his previous world record of 616.8439 bu. per acre set in 2019.
The NCGA contest, in its 61st year, saw nearly 7,800 entries from farmers in 47 states. Entrants across the 10 production categories had verified yields averaging 269 bpa.
The association noted this year’s contest participants delivered impressive yields, showcasing the ingenuity and resilience that define U.S. agriculture.
NCGA President Jed Bower commented on the significance and value of participating in the contest.
“The Yield Contest is really about finding out what this crop is capable of,” Bower said in a statement. “And as corn farmers, we get to show what we’re made of, too. It challenges participants to find innovative ways to succeed and contribute to decades of agronomic data that prove that American farmers are great at what we do.”
Weather And Disease Pressure Were Factors
Hula told Farm Journal in early September that he was off to a good start with this year’s corn harvest, despite a growing season that was marked by weather challenges and disease pressure.
“I’m not disappointed by what I’m seeing today, somewhere in the 220- to 260-range for dryland,” he said, from the combine. “We’re having some pretty good success, but maybe not what we’re usually seeing here [with yields].”
His business partner in Total Acre, Randy Dowdy, responded with confidence in Hula’s abilities.
“I wish there was some kind of way to place bets, because I’d probably put some money on you if I had the chance. You haven’t been winning for a long time, for no reason. I don’t think it’s a fluke,” Dowdy said, with a chuckle.
Hula, ever modest, emphasized the importance of adapting and staying with the crop throughout the growing season rather than making excuses for difficult conditions.
“As growers, we all struggle some. We all always have something that seems to have held us back. And one thing I know we don’t do is we don’t blame the weather. We try to understand the weather, and we work around it,” he said.
The Future of Corn Yields and Farmer Advice
Hula believes the yield potential exists to surpass even his 2023 record. He dismisses the idea of a simple solution for high yields:
“Everybody thinks there’s a silver bullet,” he said. “They think it’s a special piece of dirt.”
He estimates the genetic potential locked inside modern seed technology is much higher than current records show.
“The seed technologies have brought us to where I do feel that the genetic potential is at least 900 bushels [per acre] in a bag when you go to open it,” he said.
However, Hula notes that one of the important keys to achieving high yields today is management.
“Today we can’t make more bushels. It’s just a system on how we’re able to protect the bushels once we plant it,” he explained. “The seed’s going to carry you so far. It gives you that foundation, and then the management side is the key to where it allows you to save as many bushels as you can.”
Looking Ahead To Next Season
Hula likes to encourage other corn growers and offers practical advice for those looking to boost their yields.
“I would recommend to most growers to take one section of some field and try something new that they haven’t done in the past. If they have good success there, try it on more acres the following year,” he said. “I’ve had a lot more failures than I’ve had successes, but if I stopped because I failed, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
NCGA will be honoring the 30 national and 567 state yield winners during Commodity Classic in San Antonio, Texas, Feb. 25 – 27, 2026.
A complete list of the 2025 yield contest winners can be found at ncga.com/YieldContest.
