Now that corn planting is almost complete, harvest in Kansas will be here before you know it. Corn producers in the state are encouraged to keep in mind the Kansas Corn Yield Contest before they fire up the combines this year.
Kansas Corn, in conjunction with K-State Research and Extension, will conduct a 2019 Kansas Corn Yield Contest. All Kansas corn producers are eligible to enter the contest, but they must be active members of the Kansas Corn Growers Association.
The contest is a fun way for producers to showcase their high yielding and high quality corn with other growers in the state, and provide motivation to producers to increase yields. The contest also serves as a vehicle to improve farming operations and increase awareness of best management practices (BMPs) to improve and sustain corn yields.
In addition to grower recognition, cash awards will be awarded at the district and state levels. The districts align with crop reporting districts, plus a NNE district was created to include Doniphan and parts of Brown and Atchison (Figure 1). In addition, one statewide dryland winner and one statewide irrigated winner will be announced. District winners will receive $300 and a plaque. Second place entries will receive a $200 prize and third place will receive a $100 prize. The highest yielding dryland and irrigated entries statewide will receive an additional $500 prize. All farmers entering the contest and completing the harvest form will receive a shirt from Kansas Corn. Contest winners will be recognized at the Kansas Corn Symposium in January 2020.
The contest is free of charge to members of the Kansas Corn Growers Association. Pre-registration must be complete by August 30, 2019 or prior to harvest. All entries must be postmarked by December 1, 2019. Entries submitted to the National Corn Yield Contest qualify to enter the state contest, but entries must be made to both contests.
Figure 1. Dryland and irrigated contest districts. Note: NNE includes only those fields north and/or east of KS Hwy 73 in Brown, Doniphan, and Atchison counties.
Figure 2. Kansas contest winner entries to the Kansas Corn Contest from 2018 inaugural year. Yield values along the x-axis are in bushels per acre. Graph produced by Ignacio Ciampitti, K-State Research and Extension.
All contest rules and required entry forms can be found online at https://kscorn.com/yield
For more information, call Kansas Corn at 785-410-5009 or email yield@ksgrains.com
Dale Fjell, Director of Research and Stewardship, Kansas Corn
dfjell@ksgrains.com, 785-410-5285
Ignacio A. Ciampitti, Crop Production and Cropping Systems Specialist, K-State Department of Agronomy
ciampitti@ksu.edu, 785-532-6940
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