Atlanta, Indiana, USA
January 5, 2016
Beck’s, the largest family-owned retail seed company in the United States, is excited to announce Mike Nocton from Richmond, IN., as the winner of Beck’s 2015 Journey to 300 yield challenge. Nocton achieved the top yield of 330.3 Bu./A. with XL® 6158™*brand.
“I have always had test plots and have been trying new things, so when Beck’s came up with the Journey to 300 I wanted to step up to the challenge,” said Mike Nocton. “With all the new varieties and corn technologies available I knew hitting 300 Bu./A. was possible, but I never thought I would get there. The corn was just piling in, it was amazing.”
The top five participants achieved an average yield of 311.0 Bu./A., with an 84.0 Bu./A. average yield increase over their fields’ historical yields. Below are results from Beck’s top five 2015 Journey to 300 participants.
“The Journey to 300 was designed to challenge farmers to think outside the box and push themselves in order to reach higher yields,” said Ryan McAllister, Practical Farm Research director at Beck’s. “For some, it’s about hitting 300 Bu./A. For others, it’s about reaching higher yields through new management practices or products. For us, it all comes down to helping farmers improve their operations and making them better than the year before.”
A total of 48 challenges were completed throughout Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky, resulting in an average yield of 255.7 Bu./A. This year’s participants saw a yield increase of 5.7 Bu./A. over the average yield results from the 2014 challenge. Of the 48 challenges this year, 72 percent applied two or more nitrogen applications and 79 percent utilized at least one form of fungicide. All of the top five participants utilized at least one fungicide application and split applied their nitrogen, contributing to their high yields.
“This yield challenge truly is a personal journey for each of our participants,” McAllister added. “Many farmers tend to stick with what they know, but this gives them the opportunity to challenge their way of thinking, learn from it, and then apply it to the rest of their farm to increase profitability.”
For more information, to sign up for the 2016 Journey to 300, and to hear how the top five participants achieved their high yields today click here.
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