Now that corn is in the ground and growing, 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 2020 Kansas Corn Yield Contest. All Kansas corn producers are eligible to enter the free 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. Entries for 2019 contest are presented in Figure 2. 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, if they have not earned one already through the Corn Challenge. Contest winners will be recognized at the Kansas Corn Symposium in January 2021.
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.
The contest is free of charge to members of the Kansas Corn Growers Association. Registration must be completed online by August 31, 2020. If harvest occurs before the August 31 deadline, the registration must be received two weeks prior to harvest. Exceptions can be made for late harvest, but must be requested ahead of time. All harvest entry forms must be received online by December 1, 2020. Entries submitted to the National Corn Yield Contest qualify to enter the state contest, but entries must be made to both contests.
Figure 2. Kansas contest winner entries to the Kansas Corn Contest from 2019. Relative frequency referred to number of entries in the contest along the y-axis and yield values along the x-axis are in bushels per acre (red bars for dryland and blue bars for irrigated). Graph produced by Ignacio Ciampitti, K-State Research and Extension.
Results from the 2018 Kansas Corn Yield Contest can be reviewed at:
https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3463.pdf (“Kansas Corn Yield Contest, High Yield Management”)
For complete contest rules, forms, and to register, visit kscorn.com/yield.
For more information, call Kansas Corn at 785-410-5009 or email yield@ksgrains.com
Stacy Mayo-Martinez, Director of Industry Relations, Kansas Corn
smartinez@ksgrains.com
Ignacio A. Ciampitti, Cropping Systems Specialist, K-State Department of Agronomy
ciampitti@ksu.edu
Tags: Corn Yield Contest