Please read before completing the entry form.
Contest Deadlines
The official Kansas Wheat Yield Contest Entry Form must be postmarked by June 1, 2017. A Management Form, Harvest Rules, and a Harvest Report Form will be mailed to the contestant prior to harvest. These forms must be postmarked by July 8, 2017.
Contestant Qualifications
Eligible classes of wheat for the 2017 Yield Contest include Hard White winter and Hard Red Winter wheat only. Contestant must be a certified FSA owner/operator of the entry plot. A copy of the FSA Form 578, including farm summary, must be submitted with the contest entry form.
Contestants may enter more than once, but each entry must be submitted on a separate entry form. Partnerships can enter under the partnership, if the partnership holds a membership. Contestants must be 18 years old at the time of entry.
Kansas Wheat directors, employees and spouses are prohibited from entering the contest.
Entry Fee
A $50 entry fee is required. This fee will be used to defray the cost of hiring a Third Party Verifier at harvest. Members of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers will receive one free entry.
Contest Regions
The contest covers three regions of Kansas; it is open to dryland fields only.
Dryland: Any field that has not received any supplemental water since the last harvest or during the growing season.
Region 1 (Eastern Kansas): Any field located in Kansas east of Washington, Clay, Dickinson, Marion, Harvey, Sedgwick and Sumner Counties.
Region 2 (Central Kansas): Any field located in Kansas between the Eastern Region Boundary and east of Norton, Graham, Trego, Ness, Hodgeman, Ford and Clark Counties.
Region 3 (Western Kansas): Any field located in Kansas west of Phillips, Rooks, Ellis, Rush, Pawnee, Edwards, Kiowa and Comanche counties.
Field Qualifications
A complete field of 5 or more continuous acres, planted in the wheat seed variety named on the entry form, will be designated as the contest field. The contest field must be designated on an aerial map. The aerial map must be included with the Harvest Report.
Supervisor Eligibility Qualifications
A Third Party Verifier (supervisor) must witness the harvest of the contest plot, oversee all calculations and field measurement. The supervisor must be present during the harvesting, weighing, moisture testing and reporting to the Kansas Wheat office. The entrant is responsible for mailing the information.
Note for the 2017 Contest: Beginning in 2013, contestants were to solicit their own supervisor. This requirement will continue with the 2017 contest.
A supervisor cannot be related to the contestant, an employee, an employer, a manager or consultant of the contestant or their farm. He/she cannot have financial or direct business ties to a company that sells agribusiness supplies, i.e. totally independent.
Call the Kansas Wheat office if you are unsure if an individual qualifies to be a supervisor.
Qualifying supervisors include:
- FFA Advisor
- Vocational Ag Instructor
- County Extension Agent or Assistant
- Natural Resource Conservation Service senior staff
- Farm Service Agency CED / Loan Officer
- Farm Credit Services officer
- Bank Ag Loan Officer
- Private Crop Consultant
- College of Ag instructor
- Crop Insurance Agent/Adjustor
- Retired Individual with listed job title
Harvesting Rules and Reporting Results
Harvest operations are to be witnessed by supervisors designated on the entry form. Combine grain hopper is to be inspected and empty before harvest begins. A minimum of 5 acres are to be harvested; however the weight from the entire field may be taken, if desired.
Weight shall be verified by official elevator scale tickets. Nothing else will be accepted. Moisture percentage and foreign matter must be recorded on the scale ticket. Yield must be adjusted to 12% moisture by using this formula (to nearest 0.01 bushel):
Final Yield = (weight / plot size / 60 lbs) x (1 – (moisture/100))
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1 – (12 / 100)
Foreign matter in excess of 1% will be deducted from the yield, as stated on the scale ticket.
What to Send in After Harvest
Send to Kansas Wheat Office by July 8, 2017:
- Harvest Form
- Official Elevator Scale Ticket
- Aerial Map of Field
- Management Form
Quality Initiative
Participants may enter the optional Quality Initiative, by collecting a one-gallon sample of seed at harvest and sending it to the Kansas Wheat Commission. The sample will be graded and analyzed for various quality components. The sample with the highest overall quality, mill and bake scores will receive $250.
The quality evaluation is conducted at the ADM Milling Quality Laboratory in Overland Park. ADM and the Kansas Wheat Commission sponsor the Quality Initiative.
Prior to harvest, the Kansas Wheat Commission will send collection bags to participants.
Judging
Judging will take place at the Kansas Wheat office in Manhattan, Kansas, during the week of July 25, 2017. All entrants will be checked for accuracy. Judges’ decisions are final.
Contest Winners
Contestant with the highest score will win in each category.
Awards
Cash awards will be given by Kansas Wheat. First place winner in each region wins $1,000. Additional cash awards may be presented by corporate sponsors. Awards will be presented at the Kansas State Fair in September.