Kansas Wheat Yield Contest participants win big

Wheat yields have been a heated topic of discussion at coffee shops across Kansas for years. But five years ago Kansas Wheat decided to up the ante and see who really had the best yields in the state. On September 11, Kansas Wheat honored the winners of the Wheat Yield Contest and the Wheat Quality Initiative Contest. This year's top wheat yield belongs to Chuck Downey of St. Francis, Western Region winner, with a yield of 88.56 bushels per acre. Other regional winners are Butch Harris of Soldier and Levi Felbush of Abilene, Eastern Region winners; and Doug Keas of Plainville, Central Region winner. The top quality award, announced on September 11 by Governor Sam Brownback, was also awarded to Doug Keas.

Butch Harris and Levi Felbush are this year's Eastern Region winners. It was Felbush's idea to enter the contest, and he asked if Harris, his father-in-law, would want to join him. Harris then planted and harvested WB Cedar on a 5.75 acre plot for the contest and consulted with Felbush on maintenance. Felbush then handled the paper trail involved with the contest process. The duo's prize winning yield was 60.43 bushels per acre at 12% moisture.

Felbush said, "I really wanted to enter because I really enjoy seeing how far we can push those yields and I think the sky is the limit. I love the hard work that farming brings and the challenge of trying to top out those yields."

Doug Keas of Plainville is this year's Central Region winner, as well as the winner of Kansas Wheat's Quality Initiative Contest. Keas planted SY Wolf on a 10.32 acre plot in Rooks County. His winning yield was 78.39 bushels an acre. His wheat sample was also graded as the overall best quality wheat submitted through the contest. This result was determined by the overall quality and mill and bake scores. Keas said that he always knew he wanted to farm. While other kids wanted to be firefighters and police officers, Keas dreamed of being a farmer.

Keas said of the contest, "I've been so competitive all of my life and I love to enter any contest. My agronomist told me that I should enter this one, so I just had to give it a shot."

From the Western Region, Chuck Downey of St. Francis is this year's winner. Downey planted WB Grainfield on 9.12 acres. His prize winning yield was 88.56 bushels an acre.

Downey said, "Things like this really help you maximize your yields across the board. You're able to experiment with your contest plot. When something works for your contest plot, it might work for all of your crop, so you have the potential to maximize your profits with new knowledge every year."

The 2014 Kansas Wheat Yield Contest is sponsored by BASF, Bayer Crop Science, WestBred, Kansas Wheat Alliance, Limagrain, Plains Gold, AgriPro and Kansas Wheat. Winners of the contest receive a $1,000 prize that was presented by Governor Brownback at the Kansas State Fair. Keas's sample with the highest overall quality, mill and bake scores received $250.

Justin Gilpin, CEO of Kansas Wheat said, "Hosting the Kansas Wheat Yield Contest is an exciting time of year for us. Especially in a challenging year like this, it's good to have some success stories."

For more information about the Kansas Wheat Yield Contest, including agronomic information on this year's winning fields, please visit the Kansas Wheat website at www.kansaswheat.org.