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Impressive! 616 bushels/acre

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bradley martin

Well-known Member
Was looking at the 2019 National Corn Growers contest results last night. David Hula of Virginia set a new world record with a yield of 616 by/A. All I can say is "Wow!" It would be interesting to walk in that field and the 190 bushel/A soybean field of Randy Dowdy. Would be fun to operate the combine putting that kind of yield through. Sure wouldn't be long filling the bin! Even for us " ordinary" farmers, yields have certainly jumped over the last 40 years.
 
If the world were truly in dire need of those kinds of yields to keep people fed, it would be one thing. Yes, there are people going hungry out there, but not from lack of food production. The food simply doesn't get where it needs to be and nobody is willing or able to pay to get it there.

If this were being done for scientific purposes, just to see what is possible when things are pushed to their limits and beyond, that's one thing. However, I get a feeling this is simply being done for "bragging rights." He's just dumping fertilizer and chemicals on the field with no regard for input costs, no regard for long term effects to the soil, just to get the amazing yields so he can go on the evening news, thump his chest in pride, and thumb his nose at all the other farmers.
 
Probably tons of fertilizer...that's just trading money for same money.
The higher yield pays for the extra fertilizer if your lucky.

Then again.....that's an impressive yield.
 
Along with your logic people are starving
and it's not because of lack of food.

My dad told me during the depression no
one had money to buy their corn, so they
burned it instead of coal.

No one had money to buy their pigs, so
they killed them.
 
I think it?s amazing and kudos to him. I can?t figure out if you guys are jealous or just a bunch of grouchy hard azzes!! Who cares if it?s just for bragging rights. It?s daggum impressive!
 
Was he over applying fertilizer? Probably. Was he reckless to the point of creating an environmental hazard? Doubtful. There is a farmer in Western New York who has unique achievements in terms of yield on his creekside flats. He always gets by far the best yields for the regional and up until recently for the entire state of NY. How does he get these yields? Yes, he fertilizes for what he expects but is not wasteful. How do I know this? I know the former extension agent who this farmer would consult with. What this farmer has which only a few others in New York have is a topsoil depth that runs tens of feet deep on average in these flats. If my memory is any good the agent stated that the corn roots went down nearly 20 feet where checked. So the crops in these flats can root down to pickup various nutrients and in addition moisture. If I had to guess that if growing degree days and heat units were near equal to the Virginia farmer the WNY farmer could give the Virginia farmer a run for his money. By the way this WNY farmer only has ordinary yields on his ordinary ground so upping the fertilizer only has a very limited impact in most cases.
 
Too much fertilizer will burn the roots....probably irrigated with some nutrients supplied with the water, some in soil, leaf analysis to determine micronutrients levels, high seeding rate, perfect weed control and a dose of good luck!

Ben
 
How much of the excess fertilizer goes down into the water table? Is it safe to drink the well water in that area? Just another way to flood the market and drive prices down!
 
You nailed it people always have to find some excuse why someone else is better at something than they are.The guy that set the record farms some very fertile land along the James River East of Richmond.
 
He's not too far from me, have heard he uses some Foliar Feeding so the nutrients are not applied to the ground but taken in thru the leaves.I've grown some pretty impressive stands of sweet corn using foliar feeding
with Neptune's Harvest fish/kelp blend applied every two weeks while its growing.
 
Its NOT rocket science, start with excellent soil containing plenty of nutrients, throw enough fertilize and other minerals and chemicals and pest control etc etc at it, use good management, disregard any profit and loss and you get good yields (even if loosing money lol)

HOWEVER sure congratulations and it demonstrates a lot of management and skills NOT just anyone could do it (or at least only untill they go broke lol)

IMPRESSIVE YIELD

John T
 
If its all that easy then why can't others that are competing equal his achievement? Apparently its harder than rocket science,lots of those guys around only 1 record holder(LOL)
 
It seems to me that the greater the topsoil depth = greater the overall root mass = greater yields. The WNY farmer that I mentioned below on his normal ground where roots maybe ran 12-15 inches deep typically yields corn in the 175-180 bushel per acre range. Running fertility at the level of his deep flatland ground was a clear waste of money and environmentally unsound on the surrounding land. Traditional Farmer confirmed what I was thinking that the Virginia farmer is on river land and no doubt has deep pockets of topsoil. The other high yielder in New York is on Hudson River land from what I am told plus his season is probably two weeks longer than us near the Erie Canal running from Albany to Buffalo. The WNY guy can still take the Hudson guy if he gets a good start with a warm April. Been very poor Aprils as of late for getting corn in here.
 
John, when I was a kid, the county always had a contest for best cotton yield and corn yield.
I think it was for 5 acre plot.
An old farmer near here use to win it a lot of years for both.
He never owned a tractor.
Had 2 mules and I remember him out in the field planting, side dressing, and cultivating with those mules.
Also harvested by hand.
Richard in NW SC
 
Our topsoil here is roughly 7 - 8 inches unless you are on river bottoms. What was his topsoil depth. 8 -10 foot? Wonder if his was irrigated, we are dryland. Still a great achievement.
 
I swear, some of you just look for reasons to disagree with people or just be negative in general. It says right in the title, "CONTEST". Common sense should tell anyone that this isn't a normal yield, just something done for fun. Some of you aren't happy unless you're miserable, and seem to try your best to make others that way.
 
WOW , and here i was impressed the year i got 221 bpa on a brand new variety and so was Everyone else . My accountant was the one doing the combining for me due to the fact someone just had to buy my combine and i was having a problem finding a new one . At the time i was selling corn for the old Pfister Seed corn and i saw this new variety the yeaqr befor in a company test plot and i was impressed with it . So before i tried to pedal it to customers i wanted to try it in my area first and plus the fact it was limited in the amount you could get . I was able to get four bags only i planted 11 acres to it and took off 2431 bpa , not back on a 38 inch row corn for our area .
 
I agree with you Brad "Even for us " ordinary" farmers, yields have certainly jumped over the last 40 years." In the 70's we were happy if we got 110 to 120 across the farm. In the 90's if it is less than 200 it was a bad year. That is certainly a impressive yield though. I made a comment along time ago if the urban sprawl did not stop we would run out of ag commodities due to the land being out of production but with efforts in the farming industry it is not so. I see large tracts of what I would call good farm land taken up for apartment complexes and business now by the twin cities in 50 acre plots. While I could be called a city dweller now I know where the food is grown and "it does not just appear on a shelf somewhere to be bought and used." I talk to a lot of people who say if I could raise _________ and have good food but when quizzed they really have no idea what it takes. I do believe now that yields will continue to increase as time goes on.
 
I used to enter the county yield contests--It was fun--a little friendly rivalry. Won one year and the
pioneer dealer and the wife and I got wined and dined at a Pioneer doings in Des Moines!---Tee
cvphoto186.jpg

Looks pretty low compared to 616! With this plaque and 25 cents I used to be able to buy a glass of beer during happy hour at the local pub!
 
(quoted from post at 06:41:44 12/18/19) I think it?s amazing and kudos to him. I can?t figure out if you guys are jealous or just a bunch of grouchy hard azzes!! Who cares if it?s just for bragging rights. It?s daggum impressive!
Click to expand...
x2
 
The only way us ordinary farmers have been able to increase corn yield in the last 50 or so years is to plant more seed per acre. That was easy going from 42" rows to 30" rows. Dr Fred Below, Univ of Ill, thinks that 20" or 22" rows will be next. Some problems in non-irrigated fields in Illinois include inability of the plant to release enough heat overnight when planted at increased populations in 20" rows. Some think our cooler temps in Wisconsin will do better. Stine Seeds has a new type of plant that is smaller with leaves that are more upright that can be planted at higher populations. I ordered some of it for 2020 but I will be planting 30" rows which means only a 10% increase in population. In 20 inch rows I could increase pop by 20%. That would take a new planter and row crop header. $$$$$
 
They say he spent as much as $2500 per acre to do it so the cost was $4.00 per bushel..
He had about $1950 per acre in his previous top yield..
 
I sat through an info session at the Commodity Classic in Orlando where Dowdy and Hula were presenters. Amusing and most of what they said made sense - - if you wanted to win a contest - - on just a few acres of land. Some advantages of winning a contest is that you become a celebrity, to some that is important, and manufactures will be tripping over each other to get you to use their planters, tractors, combines, etc. to show the world what it takes to get a good yield. I'm in no way jealous or even envious but I'm open to any ideas.
 
Yep, Henry Everman from Dansville. From what I understand other than maybe a 5 acre plot geared to win a contest a lot of the very high yields on the Canaseraga Creek flats were achieved economically. His neighbors get cited in seed corn company ads for their very high yields as well. Last I knew the neighbors planted with an IH 56 planter pulled by a Super M. So it is not always about having a technology or input edge.
 
We've been planting hybrid corn for over 70 years which did, in and of itself, result in better yields but nothing so dramatic as the shift from 42 in rows (the width of a horse) to 30" rows.
 
I have lived close to the area where the Hulas farm for 30 years. They do farm along the banks of the James River, but it is primarily not bottom land. I have never seen topsoil more than a foot or so deep on non river bottom land here in southeastern VA. It may exist, but not widespread. They are very knowledgeable and friendly farmers according to my knowledge. They have won yield championships in both irrigated and non irrigated categories. I think they get the benefit of summer thunderstorms Which tend to track along the river.
 
Some of his success tips are revealed in news articles. Two yrs ago he used P 1197 seed corn, the yield plot coming in second place was Dek, variety. Reporting 52,000 plant population. That might be feasible under irrigation which he is doing. Typical for Midwest might be 28-36,000. Micro's applied at planting - copper, iron, boron, manganese,sulfur, molybdenum, maybe more. Leaf analysis performed weekly to see if plants need anything....says corn is a potassium hog so he applys nearly same amount of Pot as nitrogen per acre. Keeps PH at specified level at 6.0. An extremely high level of management for a corn plot. There are probably several foliar fertilize applications thrown in for good measure.
 
Yield contests provide some value to the rest of us- the contestants often try different methods than what the average farmer is using, and it may turn out to work great. I'm thinking specifically of the soybean farmer Kip Cullers, who, on one plot, rolled over the young plants with a crop roller. Turns out the damage to the plant stem caused the plant to throw off additional nodes to produce more beans. It is very dependent on the exact plant growth stage, but it is something you can take directly to your fields. Cullers probably is not the originator of this method, nor has he perfected it, but it was the first I'd heard of it. We tried many different things the summer I interned for a seed corn company- we seeded one field to corn by airplane- no row structure at all. Harvest was a nightmare, as you can imagine. That was before "we" understood so much about sunlight, heat radiance, etc. Not every new method comes from scientific research, some is seat-of-the-tractor tricks.
 
Great question,
"then why can't others that are competing equal his achievement"

ANSWER

Not as good of soil,,,less soil nutrients,,,,,,less fertilize,,,,,,,,,less management,,,,,,,,less expertise and skill

Like I said its not rocket science

Fun chatting with you Merry Christmas

John T
 
There are plenty of places where the soil is just a fertile as where he is located and anything he uses is available to anyone that grows corn.Appears he is just better at applying all these things.Anyway Rocket Science isn't so special anymore look at how many companies and countries are getting it done.But they can't break the corn record!
 
Given that my combine holds 150 bushels before I have to dump it that would mean that I would have to stop after a quarter acre and unload. Also given that my combine is 35 years old I'm thinking I better drive REAL slow or one of the elevators to the tank is going to jam. Must be something to see those ears jumping around down in the auger trough though!
 
There are plenty of competitive farmers out there who would put the Virginia farmer's system to work if for no other reason than to have their own claim to fame. So there has to be more to it than the Virginia farmer's diligence. Don't tell me that it is all hidden ability as there are plenty of sleuth type farmers who know how to diagnose or analyze systems. I know of guys getting fantastic yields for no other reason than a piece of land had not been row cropped for decades. Not because the previous owner did not know what to do but made a choice that he wanted to use the land differently than 98 percent of the other landowners/farmers. A fair amount of land here in New York would not produce 616 bushels of corn per acre even if the checkbook was limitless in terms of purchasing inputs. Again, I would point out the example of the farmer here getting near top yields using 1960's planter technology as the other end of the extreme as some things cannot be bought. I would bet the only thing limiting that farmer is top varieties not being graded for seed size assuming this farmer has not gone over to something more modern.
 
So you think this fellow has a place so special its the only one in the USA that can produce 600+? I'd bet you could put him a lot of places and he could do about the same thing.
 
Yep he is better and has a better "recipe" or the right combination of chemical and nutrients and the right soil and has skills indeed, its still not rocket science lol

John T
 
Hard to say what the Virginia farmer has. The Western New York farmer that I cited with the top corn yield is situated where a creek flattens out from an over a 20 mile run above that farm that no doubt had sediment deposited from 10,000 years of erosion. The soil on that flat has been core checked to know that the topsoil is over 50 feet deep in spots. Who knows what is on the river land in question. What forces of nature were at work and for how long and how localized? The Virginia farmer if I had to guess is also in a sweet spot in terms of growing season. Warm enough but not too warm for example. Just by climate it would take a miracle for someone in NY to produce 616 bushels of corn per acre. Also, in Virginia crop systems have changed as crops such as tobacco have fallen out of favor so who knows for how long Virginia farmers have been experimenting with corn.
 
Howard Hughes made the Spruce Goose fly and thus proved it could be done but didn't prove it practical to replicate.
The yield is impressive but doesn't mean much in my mind unless its an average over at least a minimum of 160 acres.
Anybody can do wonders on the choicest piece of ground of 2 acres or 1/100th of an acre or whatever he's doing.
If he would raise a measly 300 bu/ac as a farm average on variable soils across 800 to 1,000 acres or more, then I'll start paying more attention.

Again, impressive and much to be learned from for future production but if we could all raise corn like that we would most likely drive the price/bushel down to $1.00/bu or less while tripling the cost of machinery, fertilizer, fuel and infrastructure to handle it all. Everything we gain by more bushels raised will be offset by more costs to raise it, harvest it and process it into something of value to consume. Or not. What do I know.
 
By the time I?m the age of some of the fine fellows in this board we will need to average that yield to feed the world
 
So why are people starving in many places in the World and we have grain surpluses? Same old story the starving people aren't starving because of a lack of food they are starving because of the inability to pay for the food.That gap will only widen in the future."Feed the World" narrative by big ag companies and USDA is a big lie
just like the "Fence Row to Fence Row" was just a rouse to sell more products to the suckers believing it.Heck we have so much corn we're having to burn it up in auto fuel to get rid of it and the price is still in the 'tank'.
 
Nah,,,,,heck give me the money he spent and good soil and tons and tons of fertilize I could do the same, believe me as a retired farmer, growing corn simply isn't rocket science lol

Best wishes God Bless and Merry Christmas

John T
 
(quoted from post at 04:14:26 12/19/19) So why are people starving in many places in the World and we have grain surpluses? Same old story the starving people aren't starving because of a lack of food they are starving because of the inability to pay for the food.That gap will only widen in the future."Feed the World" narrative by big ag companies and USDA is a big lie
just like the "Fence Row to Fence Row" was just a rouse to sell more products to the suckers believing it.Heck we have so much corn we're having to burn it up in auto fuel to get rid of it and the price is still in the 'tank'.
Click to expand...

Not only $$$$ but the corrupt governments stealing and preventing aid to get to where it is needed. A healthy population is not people you can control. Tons of food in aid is destroyed in order to control the feeble....
 
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