Charles City, Va., strip-tiller Dave Hula continues his NCGA Yield Contest championship run with a 490-bushel yield in the strip-till irrigated category — the top overall yield in the 2024 contest. His son, Craig, was right behind him with a 461-bushel yield in the same category.

Hula planted a Pioneer variety P14830VYHR, the same hybrid he used in 2023 for his world-record 623-bushel yield. He's the only farmer to smash the 600-bushel barrier, and he's done it 3 times (2019, 2021 and 2023).

"This year proved to be the best start that we've ever had based on corn emergence," Hula told Progressive Farmer. "Then, our weather turned cool briefly followed by a drought. We had never previously made a corn crop by irrigating, but this year, we started early and did not stop pumping water until pollination. Irrigated yields were better than we expected. Dryland corn struggled. There were growers in Virginia that did not harvest their crop due to the drought. Despite our crop being 40 bushels below our APH (actual production history), we feel we were blessed considering what other growers faced."

Hula made strips with an ETS SoilWarrior before planting the corn in 30-inch rows, according to Progressive Farmer, and the crop received a total of 420 pounds of nitrogen, 137 pounds of phosphorus, 360 pounds of potash, 6 pounds of boron, 60 pounds of sulfur, 15 pounds of zinc, a starter application made with EZ-drops mounted on a John Deere sprayer and 2 tons of chicken litter per acre.

Galt Porter (Mercer, Iowa) was the winner of the strip-till non-irrigated category with 405 bushels per acre. Michelle Santini's (Phillipsburg, N.J.) 353-bushel yield was good for the top strip-till non-irrigated spot among states outside the Corn Belt. 

Dubois, Ind., no-tiller Shawn Kalb captured the top spot in the no-till non-irrigated category with a 402-bushel yield, while Wrightsville, Ga., no-tiller Ben Jackson's 400-bushel yield topped the no-till irrigated category. 

Click here for a complete list of the national and state winners in each category.

In its 60th year, the NCGA Yield Contest saw nearly 7,800 entries from farmers in 45 states. Entrants across the 10 production categories had verified yields averaging 284 bushels per acre.

Looking back to its modest beginnings in 1965, NCGA’s Yield Contest launched with just 20 entries across four states--Indiana, Iowa, Illinois and Ohio. The winning corn yield that inaugural year was 218.9 bushels per acre. By 1968, the Yield Contest grew to 412 entries spanning 34 states. Growth and progress continued to follow. Contest winners produced an average 246.69 bushels per acre in 1987 with more than 2,500 growers from 45 states. 

"The Yield Contest continues to set the standard across the ag industry,” said Illinois grower and NCGA President Kenneth Hartman, Jr. “This contest not only challenges farmers to showcase their expertise and innovation in growing successful corn crops, but it also generates invaluable agronomic data that drives continuous improvement and future success across agriculture." 

The 27 national, 535 state and 3 Class J winners will be honored by NCGA at Commodity Classic in Denver, Colorado, March 2 – March 4, 2025.