Three Kansas wheat farmers have each earned $1,000 by winning their respective regions in the 2013 Kansas Wheat Yield Contest.
Chuck Downey, St. Francis, won the Western Region by getting 70.05 bushels per acre from the Syngenta variety SY Wolf. (more on Downey below)
Ron Ohlde, Palmer, won the Central Region with a yield of 93.57 bushels per acre with the Westbred variety Cedar.
Leland Johnson, Westmoreland, won the Eastern Region with a 78.7 bushel per acre yield from the Kansas Wheat Alliance variety Everest
“The yield contest highlights success stories of how Kansas farmers are maximizing yield potential and producing high quality wheat for the marketplace,” says Justin Gilpin, chief executive officer of Kansas Wheat, “It also serves as an educational opportunity for producers to learn new management strategies for improved wheat production.”
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback will present prize checks and plaques to the winners on September 14, at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson
Cash prizes of $1,000 come from Kansas Wheat and BASF, the lead corporate sponsor of the Kansas Wheat Yield Contest. In addition, the Kansas Wheat Alliance, Westbred and Syngenta will provide $500 cash awards to each winner. Other sponsors include Bayer CropScience and Plains Gold.
Moisture is often the limiting factor in Cheyenne County, where Chuck Downey achieved a 70.05 bushel per acre yield with the Syngenta variety, SY Wolf, to take the Western Region of the Kansas Wheat Yield Contest. Downey says his contest field received less than five-inches of precipitation from planting to harvest.
This is the second Yield Contest win for Chuck, who farms and ranches with his wife, Megan and her father, Walter Douthit, who owns much of the land Chuck farms. Walter has been supportive of Chuck’s efforts to improve wheat yields over the years, which include improving crop health by using micro-nutrients and fungicide.
The contest field is silty clay loam that last year had been in wheat. He planted the crop Oct. 12, applying 1.03 million seeds per acre. The seed was treated with Cruiser Maxx and Cruiser 5FS to ward off disease and insect threats.
The contest field received 24 gallons of 28-0-0-5, using streambars. At Feekes 5 (final tillering stage), Downey sprayed 6 ounces of zinc, 5.5 pounds of magnesium sulfate, Coron and Ele-max, plus the herbicides Barrage and Ally, plus the fungicide Tilt. At Feekes 10.1 (beginning of heading stage), he applied another round of zinc, magnesium sulfate, Coron and Ele-max, plus the fungicide Twinline.
In all, Downey made four post-emerge passes across the field to apply crop protectant products. That’s more than most farmers would make, but Downey makes sure the investment has a chance to pay off. “It is important not to put the inputs on the crop until there is yield potential,” he says. “Each time I put more money into the crop, I make sure there is enough potential return on investment to pay for it.”
Although 2013 wasn’t a year in which diseases were of utmost concern, Downey applied two shots of fungicide anyway. The applications kept the plant greener longer, which he believes prolongs the grainfill period, adding bushels to the field.
“The herbicide tends to delay harvest, which can be nerve-wracking when storm clouds begin to gather in the west,” he admits. “I have sandy soils that tend to be ready to cut earlier, so by using fungicide on our heavier soils I can spread out harvest a bit.”
Yield: 70.05 bushels per acre
Variety: SY Wolf, Syngenta
Certified Seed Source: Mattson Farms, Colby