The National Wheat Foundation recently announced the winners of its 2016 National Wheat Yield Contest – the first such challenge in twenty years. This year’s winners captured some truly bin-busting crops.
The contest is split into two categories, each with two subcategories: winter wheat (dryland and irrigated) and spring wheat (dryland and irrigated).
The top yield nationally came courtesy of eastern Washington farmer Phillip Gross, with Warden Hutterian Brethren Farms, a third-generation farm that raises wheat, beans, corn, peas and potatoes. Gross pulled an astounding 192.85 bu. per acre using a WestBred hard red winter wheat variety called Keldin.
Other winners included:
- Rick Horton, of Leoti, Kan., won the top yielding dryland winter wheat category with “Joe,” a white wheat variety from the Kansas Wheat Alliance. It yielded 127.94 bu. per acre.
- Jagger Borth, of West Plains, Kan., topped the irrigated winter wheat category, yielding 133.64 bu. per acre with the WestBred hard red winter wheat variety Grainfield.
- Kent Pfaff, of Washburn, N.D., won the dryland spring wheat category by reaching 104.29 bu. per acre on Croplan’s hard red spring variety 3530.
- Dan Mills, of Stanfield, Ore., was the top yielder for the irrigated spring wheat category. With the WestBred hard red spring variety Solano, he yielded 146.4 bu. per acre
“The Foundation believes that the National Wheat Yield Contest will be the catalyst to driving innovation among growers, and communication with competitors and colleagues to facilitate productive discourse on successful practices and techniques,” according to NWF chairman Phil McLain.
Winners will be congratulated at the 2017 Commodity Classic next February in San Antonio. For a full list of state and national winners, visit http://wheatfoundation.org/2016-national-wheat-yield-contest-winners/.
