Top Five Wheat Yield Entries Surpass 140 Bushels

(DANNY RUBIN)

BY DANIEL GRANT FarmWeek

How good of a season was it for wheat in Illinois this year?

Fayette County farmer Danny Rubin submitted an impressive entry of 144.49 bushels per acre in the Illinois Wheat Association’s (IWA) state yield contest, but he didn’t know if it was good enough to take the top prize.

And, while it was close, with the top five entries all above 140 bushels, Rubin’s yield in fact turned out to be the winner of the 2023 contest. The top entries were unveiled at IWA’s Summer Wheat Forum in Sparta Aug. 23.

“Actually, I was surprised. I knew there was a lot of good wheat around,” Rubin told FarmWeek after learning he won the contest.

Rubin, a past IWA president, planted Pioneer 25R76 variety at a seeding rate of 1.7 million per acre to produce the spectacular crop. It had a test weight of 62.4.

“The dry weather in June was pretty ideal (for wheat),” he said. “There wasn’t much disease and the test weights were really good.”

Second place in the contest went to Triple P Farms in Effingham County with a yield of 142.84 bushels using FS Inspire FS603 variety while Kurt Sudholt, Clinton County, took third place with a yield of 141.88 bushels using FS Inspire FS624.

Marvin Beer, St. Clair County (141.6 bushels) and Chris Howell, Monroe County (141.23), who both planted AgriMAXX varieties, rounded out the top five entries in the contest, respectively.

“We always try to find ways to improve and do better,” Rubin said. “The (IWA) yield contest is good for members to help them (learn from each other) and on their own operations to improve and do better.”

IWA received 20 entries for this year’s wheat yield contest from 10 counties. A dozen of the harvest forms were returned and all of them surpassed 101 bushels per acre.

Keys to success for 2024

“We try to keep the plants healthy and growing throughout the season,” he said. “We do a lot of extra (management) things and it all adds up to make a big difference. It’s not any single thing we do (that propels yields to new heights).”

Ryan Hasty, western area agronomy manager for South Central FS, said variety selection and planting populations are key.

“Things have changed a lot when it comes to seeding rates,” Hasty said. “We used to be comfortable with 1.3 million to 1.5 million (seeds per acre). In recent years that’s changed dramatically.”

The agronomist now recommends farmers target 1.8 million to 1.9 million seeds per acre when shooting for high yields.

The reason for the increase is a focus on producing as many main stems as possible in the wheat stand.

“We don’t want to count on tillers for the final yield,” Hasty said. “We should focus on the main stem, that’s where most of the yield is at. That’s where (higher) seeding rates are working well for us.”

Mark Miller, plant manager of Mennel Milling in Mount Olive, also recommends farmers be nimble in their wheat marketing plans and take advantage of on-farm drying capacity to harvest the crop a little earlier than usual when possible.

“Mills will give you, generally speaking, the best price,” he said. “But I think we could see the river (terminals) bidding up wheat the next few weeks to fill barges.”

Wheat prices in southwest Illinois recently swung from $7.48 per bushel on June 21 to $6.51 by June 20 and back up to $7.60 July 19 before falling off to the current $6-range.