2011 Michigan soybean yield contest
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EmailWill Michigan see a 100-bushel soybean yield in this year’s soybean yield contest?
The 2010 Michigan Soybean Yield Contest had a record 96 bushels per acre reported. For the second time in the five-year history of the contest, the average yield of the five winners topped 70 bushels per acre. This past year, the average yield of the five-class winners was over 77 bushels per acre.
Winners of past contests
2006
Nate Robinson of Cass County
Keith Kirkdorfer of Cass County
Bernard Abbott of Cass County
Randy Reibling of Huron County
2007
Keith Kirkdorfer of Cass County
Jerry Heck of Monroe County
Don Stall of Eaton County
Dave Eickholt of Shiawassee County
2008
Brian McKenzie of Cass County
Cindy Kirkdorfer of Cass County
Brian Nickels of Kent County
Joe Kwiatkowski of Ottawa County
Dave Eickholt of Shiawassee County
2009
Marvin Milliman of St. Joseph County
Jon and Jay Drozd of Allegan County
Burton, Bruce and Ross Brenner of Allegan County
Brian Nickels of Kent County
Greg Wagner of Tuscola County
2010
Tom Green of Allegan County
Cameron Mendenhall of Cass County
Brian Nickels of Kent County
Karla Mendenhall of Cass County
Greg Wagner of Tuscola County
There will be a contest again for 2011. Will we see a 100-bushel soybean yield? Kip Cullers has been in Michigan for the past two winter meeting seasons, explaining how he gets 160 bushels per acre. Although his situation in Missouri is very different from that of soybean farmers in Michigan, contest farmers in the past have been willing to try different things to achieve higher yields.
The chart below shows the state average soybean yields as compared to the average yield of the entire contest and compared to the average yield of the winners over the past five years.
The 2012 Commodity Classic – the combined educational event for the America Soybean Association and the National Corn Growers Association – will be in Nashville, Ten., March 1-3, 2012. All Michigan soybean farmers may wish to think about participating, even if you are not entering the contest or a winner. All farmers who complete the contest receive a personalized hat, $50 worth of biodiesel bucks and their entry fee applied towards a 2012 membership in the Michigan Soybean Association.
The Michigan soybean yield contest has been a part of the Soybean 2010 project. The data collected from the contest planting and harvest forms is analyzed to see what the winners do as compared to the others. A report on the 2011 contest will be given at an educational meeting next winter.
The Michigan soybean yield contest is sponsored by the Michigan Soybean Checkoff program and Michigan State University Extension. Any farmer in Michigan who raises at least five acres of soybeans is eligible to enter the contest. Interested farmers can contact Ned Birkey at the Monroe County MSU Extension office at 734-240-3172 for more information.
