Hula Wins Corn Yield Contest
Corn Yield Contest Winner Produced 429 BPA in Virginia
Fri Dec 23, 2011 03:23 PM CST
By Dan Miller
Progressive Farmer Senior Editor
Corn-yield-contest-winning farmer David Hula in the field.
-- It was a cornfield David Hula harvested just ahead of last August's Hurricane Irene, literally in view of the approaching storm, that produced for this grower the top yield in the 2011 National Corn Growers Association Corn Yield Contest. His winning yield in the contest's no-till/strip-till irrigated category has been confirmed at 429.0216 bushels.
Hula farms outside Charles City, Va., less than an hour southeast of Richmond and a bit more than an hour from the waters of Hampton Roads and the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. His is one of largest entries ever in the nearly 50-year history of the contest. Iowa corn-growing champion Francis Childs holds the overall record with his 442-bushel dryland entry in the 2002 contest. Childs died in 2008.
"I want to say that I hope this is more than a once-in-a-lifetime thing," Hula said Wednesday, the day the corn yield contest results were released.
The National Corn Growers Association named 18 national winners in six production categories in the 2011 contest. Together, the national winners produced verified yields averaging 313.107 bushels per acre, compared to the projected national average of 146.7 bushels per acre in 2011. While there is no overall contest winner, yields from first, second and third place farmers who placed in the national contest production categories ranged from 277.5 bushels to Hula's 429 bushels per acre.
"We follow a systematic program and we are truly fortunate," Hula said. He has produced the top national yield in the contest several times, most recently in 2010 (368.444 bushels) and in 2007 (385.6 bushels).
Hula's Renwood Farms is widely spread over 4,500 acres -- 2,000 acres of corn -- along the James and Chickahominy rivers in Virginia. He farms on both sides of Williamsburg and to the outskirts of Richmond. He can see parts of his farm across the James River from his storage and seed-processing facility, but has to drive 41 miles to get there. His average field size is just 21 acres. The soils are mostly Pamunkey (Virginia's state soil), soils that were formed in stream sediments in the James River drainage basin. It is a fine, sandy loam at the surface with a yellowish-red clay underneath and layers of sand and gravel below that.
"I've never planted it that thick," said Hula of the contest field that had a final stand, he estimated, of 43,600 plants. Hula's combine's yield monitor rose to 502 bushels at one point in the field. The entire field produced an average of 420 bushels.
In fact, Hula noted, even after Irene laid down corn in others of his most heavily populated fields, he still managed to pick the damaged crop off the ground and harvest 339 to 360 bushels to the acre.
For the year however, after the hurricane and some very dry weather, Hula's farm averaged 142 bushels from "fence post to fence post, irrigated and dryland." He figures the hurricane nipped his overall farm average by 40 bushels to the acre.
The big difference Hula noted about the 2011 crop was the amount of sunlight reaching the crop, similar to what he recalls about 2007 when he recorded his 385-bushel Corn Yield Contest entry. "We had a whole lot of sunlight. Of course, we can't control that. But it really complemented our system," he said. It was good weather and a new hybrid from Pioneer Hi-Bred. Pioneer identifies it as Pioneer P2088HR.
In 2011, P2088HR was in its final year of testing. It will be available in volume for the current production year, mostly in the Southern and Western U.S., Pioneer reported. The HR at the end of the name means the product contains Herculex 1/Roundup Ready 2/Liberty Link traits. Pioneer also said the basic genetics of P2088 will be available in a few additional trait mixes.
Hula added that he also focused last year on plant health, adding a third fungicide application, for example, to his production system. That third application was applied at the onset of brown silk.
"We just have an environment for disease, with our irrigation and climate," Hula said.
The Virginia farmer works some very old soils in this historic portion of the United States. In fact, it was on ground first broken out by the Jamestown settlers in 1607 that Hula first broke through the 300-bushel barrier for corn on his farm.
Hula takes care of those soils. He has been 100% "never till" for more than a decade. It's a practice proven to hold his soil in place during heavy, even hurricane-spawned rains, and also husbands soil moisture. Hula irrigates his corn from the James, but in driest years, when irrigation would be most helpful, that tidal river can become salty, forcing him to shut down his irrigators.
"I believe we're improving the soils" with never till, he said. His long-term corn average has risen from 120 bushels per acre 10 years ago to 160 bushels today.
Seed choice is important. Hula looks for corn with emergence unhampered by the cool and wet conditions of April, when he begins to plant. He adds GlobalChem's Pentelex to the seed to give it an additional source of energy during germination and emergence. He also treats his seed with Bayer Crop Protection's Poncho 1250 insecticide to fend off the Southern corn billbug, a pest that can cut yield right at germination.
Because Hula's farm is along the James and the James flows into the Chesapeake Bay he must, by close regulation, account for all his nitrogen applications. So, he broadcasts no nitrogen. Soil testing and tissue testing are a necessary routine.
In the fall, he spreads pelletized sludge, lime and fertilizer. He broadcasts about 250 pounds of potash per acre every other fall, prior to a corn crop. Typically, a small grain crop follows the corn and then, double-cropped soybeans after that.
At planting, Hula applies a starter fertilizer (60-30-0) with 6 pounds of sulfur, 0.6 pounds of zinc and 0.1 pounds of boron in bands, 3 inches to the side of the seed trench and 2 inches below. Boron helps the plant during pollination, he says.
Learned from the success of his corn contest plots, Hula adds an in-furrow pop up fertilizer. He applies 3-18-18 through the planter at a couple of gallons per acre. He credits the practice with boosting yields three to four bushels.
Additional applications of nitrogen are made based on tissue sampling. Hula sidedresses his corn 60 to 120 pounds of N and some sulfur at V5 and V8, the latter about six weeks after emergence.
His intention through the season is to never leave the crop wanting for something.
"We want it to stay green as long as we can," he says. "When we harvested that 385 [bushels in 2007], the ear dried down, but the plant stayed green. We want to replicate that in all our fields."
Following are winners in all categories of the National Corn Yield contest. Winners (or farm) names are followed by hometown, hybrid and certified yield per acre. "AA" entries are from the states of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin. "A" entries are from all other states.
A Non-Irrigated:
Justice Family Farms, Beckley, VA; Pioneer P2023HR; 288.4817
Miltenberger Farms, Keyser, WV; Pioneer P1615HR; 279.6187
Henry G. Everman, Dansville, NY; DEKALB DKC61-69; 277.5063
AA Non-Irrigated:
Kevin Kalb, Dubois, IN; DEKALB DKC64-69; 322.1727
Herring Farms (Jim), Harpster, OH; DEKALB DKC63-84; 305.7750
Herring Farms (Phil), Harpster, OH; Shur Grow SG-720; 291.7814
A No-Till/Strip Till Non-Irrigated:
Mike Scholting, Louisville, NE; Pioneer 32T84; 293.5917
Gary Swede Farms Inc., Pavilion, NY; DEKALB DKC63-42; 285.6094
John Alexander Rigdon, Jarrettsville, MD; Pioneer P1395XR; 285.4936
AA No-Till/Strip Till Non-Irrigated:
Eugene Steiger, Bloomington, WI; DEKALB DKC62-97; 297.6489
CGC Farms, Chaffee, MO; Seed Consultants SCS 11HQ31; 283.0294
Hinkebein & Landewee Farm, Chaffee, MO; Seed Consultants SCS 11HQ31; 281.8267
Irrigated:
Double 'SA' Farms Inc., Hart, TX; Pioneer 32N74AM1; 370.3836
Randy Dowdy, Valdosta, GA; Pioneer P1814HR; 352.3115
Donny Carpenter Farms, Ltd., Dimmitt, TX; Pioneer 32N74AM1; 312.9834
No-Till/Strip Till Irrigated:
David Hula, Charles City, VA; Pioneer P2088HR; 429.0216
Randy Dowdy, Valdosta, GA; Pioneer P2023HR; 363.5287
Ute Mountain Farm & Ranch Enterprise, Towaoc, CO; Fontanelle 7V697; 315.1727
The National Corn Yield Contest is in its 47th year. With 8,425 entries, this year set a participation record.
"While this contest provides individual growers a chance for good-natured competition with their peers, it also advances farming as a whole," said Dean Taylor, chairman of NCGA's Production and Stewardship Action Team. "The techniques and practices contest winners develop provide the basis for widely used advances that benefit the industry."
Winners will be presented with their yield awards at the Corn Yield Contest Awards Banquet in Nashville, Tenn., during the 2012 Commodity Classic this coming March.
Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@telventdtn.com
(CZ/ES)
© Copyright 2011 DTN/The Progressive Farmer, A Telvent Brand. All rights reserved.
Corn Yield Contest Winner Produced 429 BPA in Virginia
Fri Dec 23, 2011 03:23 PM CST
By Dan Miller
Progressive Farmer Senior Editor
Corn-yield-contest-winning farmer David Hula in the field.
-- It was a cornfield David Hula harvested just ahead of last August's Hurricane Irene, literally in view of the approaching storm, that produced for this grower the top yield in the 2011 National Corn Growers Association Corn Yield Contest. His winning yield in the contest's no-till/strip-till irrigated category has been confirmed at 429.0216 bushels.
Hula farms outside Charles City, Va., less than an hour southeast of Richmond and a bit more than an hour from the waters of Hampton Roads and the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. His is one of largest entries ever in the nearly 50-year history of the contest. Iowa corn-growing champion Francis Childs holds the overall record with his 442-bushel dryland entry in the 2002 contest. Childs died in 2008.
"I want to say that I hope this is more than a once-in-a-lifetime thing," Hula said Wednesday, the day the corn yield contest results were released.
The National Corn Growers Association named 18 national winners in six production categories in the 2011 contest. Together, the national winners produced verified yields averaging 313.107 bushels per acre, compared to the projected national average of 146.7 bushels per acre in 2011. While there is no overall contest winner, yields from first, second and third place farmers who placed in the national contest production categories ranged from 277.5 bushels to Hula's 429 bushels per acre.
"We follow a systematic program and we are truly fortunate," Hula said. He has produced the top national yield in the contest several times, most recently in 2010 (368.444 bushels) and in 2007 (385.6 bushels).
Hula's Renwood Farms is widely spread over 4,500 acres -- 2,000 acres of corn -- along the James and Chickahominy rivers in Virginia. He farms on both sides of Williamsburg and to the outskirts of Richmond. He can see parts of his farm across the James River from his storage and seed-processing facility, but has to drive 41 miles to get there. His average field size is just 21 acres. The soils are mostly Pamunkey (Virginia's state soil), soils that were formed in stream sediments in the James River drainage basin. It is a fine, sandy loam at the surface with a yellowish-red clay underneath and layers of sand and gravel below that.
"I've never planted it that thick," said Hula of the contest field that had a final stand, he estimated, of 43,600 plants. Hula's combine's yield monitor rose to 502 bushels at one point in the field. The entire field produced an average of 420 bushels.
In fact, Hula noted, even after Irene laid down corn in others of his most heavily populated fields, he still managed to pick the damaged crop off the ground and harvest 339 to 360 bushels to the acre.
For the year however, after the hurricane and some very dry weather, Hula's farm averaged 142 bushels from "fence post to fence post, irrigated and dryland." He figures the hurricane nipped his overall farm average by 40 bushels to the acre.
The big difference Hula noted about the 2011 crop was the amount of sunlight reaching the crop, similar to what he recalls about 2007 when he recorded his 385-bushel Corn Yield Contest entry. "We had a whole lot of sunlight. Of course, we can't control that. But it really complemented our system," he said. It was good weather and a new hybrid from Pioneer Hi-Bred. Pioneer identifies it as Pioneer P2088HR.
In 2011, P2088HR was in its final year of testing. It will be available in volume for the current production year, mostly in the Southern and Western U.S., Pioneer reported. The HR at the end of the name means the product contains Herculex 1/Roundup Ready 2/Liberty Link traits. Pioneer also said the basic genetics of P2088 will be available in a few additional trait mixes.
Hula added that he also focused last year on plant health, adding a third fungicide application, for example, to his production system. That third application was applied at the onset of brown silk.
"We just have an environment for disease, with our irrigation and climate," Hula said.
The Virginia farmer works some very old soils in this historic portion of the United States. In fact, it was on ground first broken out by the Jamestown settlers in 1607 that Hula first broke through the 300-bushel barrier for corn on his farm.
Hula takes care of those soils. He has been 100% "never till" for more than a decade. It's a practice proven to hold his soil in place during heavy, even hurricane-spawned rains, and also husbands soil moisture. Hula irrigates his corn from the James, but in driest years, when irrigation would be most helpful, that tidal river can become salty, forcing him to shut down his irrigators.
"I believe we're improving the soils" with never till, he said. His long-term corn average has risen from 120 bushels per acre 10 years ago to 160 bushels today.
Seed choice is important. Hula looks for corn with emergence unhampered by the cool and wet conditions of April, when he begins to plant. He adds GlobalChem's Pentelex to the seed to give it an additional source of energy during germination and emergence. He also treats his seed with Bayer Crop Protection's Poncho 1250 insecticide to fend off the Southern corn billbug, a pest that can cut yield right at germination.
Because Hula's farm is along the James and the James flows into the Chesapeake Bay he must, by close regulation, account for all his nitrogen applications. So, he broadcasts no nitrogen. Soil testing and tissue testing are a necessary routine.
In the fall, he spreads pelletized sludge, lime and fertilizer. He broadcasts about 250 pounds of potash per acre every other fall, prior to a corn crop. Typically, a small grain crop follows the corn and then, double-cropped soybeans after that.
At planting, Hula applies a starter fertilizer (60-30-0) with 6 pounds of sulfur, 0.6 pounds of zinc and 0.1 pounds of boron in bands, 3 inches to the side of the seed trench and 2 inches below. Boron helps the plant during pollination, he says.
Learned from the success of his corn contest plots, Hula adds an in-furrow pop up fertilizer. He applies 3-18-18 through the planter at a couple of gallons per acre. He credits the practice with boosting yields three to four bushels.
Additional applications of nitrogen are made based on tissue sampling. Hula sidedresses his corn 60 to 120 pounds of N and some sulfur at V5 and V8, the latter about six weeks after emergence.
His intention through the season is to never leave the crop wanting for something.
"We want it to stay green as long as we can," he says. "When we harvested that 385 [bushels in 2007], the ear dried down, but the plant stayed green. We want to replicate that in all our fields."
Following are winners in all categories of the National Corn Yield contest. Winners (or farm) names are followed by hometown, hybrid and certified yield per acre. "AA" entries are from the states of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin. "A" entries are from all other states.
A Non-Irrigated:
Justice Family Farms, Beckley, VA; Pioneer P2023HR; 288.4817
Miltenberger Farms, Keyser, WV; Pioneer P1615HR; 279.6187
Henry G. Everman, Dansville, NY; DEKALB DKC61-69; 277.5063
AA Non-Irrigated:
Kevin Kalb, Dubois, IN; DEKALB DKC64-69; 322.1727
Herring Farms (Jim), Harpster, OH; DEKALB DKC63-84; 305.7750
Herring Farms (Phil), Harpster, OH; Shur Grow SG-720; 291.7814
A No-Till/Strip Till Non-Irrigated:
Mike Scholting, Louisville, NE; Pioneer 32T84; 293.5917
Gary Swede Farms Inc., Pavilion, NY; DEKALB DKC63-42; 285.6094
John Alexander Rigdon, Jarrettsville, MD; Pioneer P1395XR; 285.4936
AA No-Till/Strip Till Non-Irrigated:
Eugene Steiger, Bloomington, WI; DEKALB DKC62-97; 297.6489
CGC Farms, Chaffee, MO; Seed Consultants SCS 11HQ31; 283.0294
Hinkebein & Landewee Farm, Chaffee, MO; Seed Consultants SCS 11HQ31; 281.8267
Irrigated:
Double 'SA' Farms Inc., Hart, TX; Pioneer 32N74AM1; 370.3836
Randy Dowdy, Valdosta, GA; Pioneer P1814HR; 352.3115
Donny Carpenter Farms, Ltd., Dimmitt, TX; Pioneer 32N74AM1; 312.9834
No-Till/Strip Till Irrigated:
David Hula, Charles City, VA; Pioneer P2088HR; 429.0216
Randy Dowdy, Valdosta, GA; Pioneer P2023HR; 363.5287
Ute Mountain Farm & Ranch Enterprise, Towaoc, CO; Fontanelle 7V697; 315.1727
The National Corn Yield Contest is in its 47th year. With 8,425 entries, this year set a participation record.
"While this contest provides individual growers a chance for good-natured competition with their peers, it also advances farming as a whole," said Dean Taylor, chairman of NCGA's Production and Stewardship Action Team. "The techniques and practices contest winners develop provide the basis for widely used advances that benefit the industry."
Winners will be presented with their yield awards at the Corn Yield Contest Awards Banquet in Nashville, Tenn., during the 2012 Commodity Classic this coming March.
Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@telventdtn.com
(CZ/ES)
© Copyright 2011 DTN/The Progressive Farmer, A Telvent Brand. All rights reserved.
Comment