Each year, thousands of growers enter plots into yield contests run by the National Corn Growers Association and National Sorghum Producers. One of this year?s winning growers shared advice ? from genetics to soil health ? to successfully achieving top-end yield performance across a diverse set of geographies.
Kelly Garrett of Arion, Iowa, took third place nationally in the National Corn Yield Contest, no-till irrigated class, with a yield of 387.93 bushels an acre. Garrett planted a Pioneer brand corn for his winning entry.
?We chose 2089 because of the top-end yield potential that it possesses being a 120-day hybrid,” Garrett said. “Typically, that hybrid is not grown this far north, but under intensive management, it’s very much okay to move it up here. We knew if we managed it intensively, what it could reach up and do. I mean, it’s the highest yield we’ve ever produced.?
For Garrett, there?s one place growers should start if they?re looking to chase higher yields.
?The first thing you need to start to do is you need to balance the soil and improve your soil health,” Garrett said. “That’s where you have to start, because if you don’t do that, all the other things that you do, that’s a wasted investment. And then you build upon that. And that’s not just for contest acres that’s for all crops, normal production, high yield, everything.?
Growers who use Pioneer brand products are consistently atop leaderboards, with Pioneer hybrids helping to deliver the highest overall yield in the National Corn Yield Contest and 8 in 10 national NSP Yield Contest winners over the last five years. More complete results from this year?s yield contests can be found at pioneer.com/us.
