Winners Announced for the 2021 National Wheat Yield Contest
October 26, 2021
The National Wheat Foundation’s (NWF) National Wheat Yield Contest (NWYC) offers growers the opportunity to compete with farmers from across the United States and improve their production practices through new and innovative techniques. Today, NWF is happy to announce the national winners for the 2021 National Wheat Yield Contest. See who won and read more about their entries here!
“Better than expected” is how many of the grower participants describe their 2021 wheat crops. The crops in the spring wheat areas overcame historic drought and a heatwave that is being described as a 1000-year weather event. The winter wheat crop experienced the “Valentine’s Week Historic Winter Outbreak” of snow, sleet, freezing rain and extremely cold temperatures that lasted for several days. In the Northeast, the rain was plentiful and too much so during harvest time. Despite these challenges, 387 wheat growers still entered the contest and 150 of them took their entries to yield in order to compete and see how they fared versus other growers in the country.
Wheat growers are resilient and hopeful by nature. The challenge of growing better wheat than they did the year before motivates them to try new management practices, varieties, and techniques. We know the winners appreciate the prize of being recognized, but more importantly, learn and improve their wheat yields and quality every season.
“NWF would like to thank each grower for enrolling in the NWYC and thank our sponsors for helping to make the Contest available to wheat growers in the United States. Entries for the Contest were 387 this year, spring wheat entries were down a little, due to the drought,” stated National Wheat Foundation Board Chairman, David Cleavinger. “Yields and quality were excellent in this year’s entries and contestants tell us they are continuing to learn how to increase their yields and quality on their farms.”
The contest recognizes winners in two primary competition categories: winter wheat and spring wheat, and two subcategories: dryland and irrigated. Grain must be Grade 1 or 2 by Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) standards to be eligible for awards. National winners will receive a trip to the Commodity Classic in New Orleans, LA in March 2022 and be recognized at an awards reception.
The sponsors for the 2021 National Yield Contest are AgriMaxx, Ardent Mills, BASF, Croplan/Winfield, Elevate Ag, Grain Craft, GrainSense, John Deere, Miller Milling, Michigan Wheat, Nutrien, Ohio Corn and Wheat, and WestBred.
Source: National Wheat Foundation
