Wheat yield contest deadline coming soon

By Eric Richer, CCA, Laura Lindsey, Mike Estadt, Ohio State University Extension

The National Wheat Yield Contest was created in 2015 by the National Wheat Foundation to promote new ideas and experimentation for wheat production, enable knowledge transfer between growers and identify top wheat producers in each state.  Since its short inception, Ohio has had good participation in the national contest, ranking second in entries in 2021 to Kansas. While your wheat crop may not be looking quite as good as it did in 2021, we encourage producers to improve their knowledge of wheat production as a result of participating in the 2022 contest. 

The contest is a friendly competition that will help farmers stay focused on raising high quality, high yielding wheat while evaluating agronomic and economic decisions at the field level.  Each registered contestant must be a member of their state’s wheat growers association (in Ohio, www.ohiocornandwheat.org). Contestants can enter more than one wheat variety but each has an early-entry fee of $100. Entering the National Wheat Yield Contest automatically enters you in the Ohio contest at no additional cost.

Click here to review the rules and requirements for this year’s contest and create your application to enter: https://wheatfoundation.org/. The early-entry deadline is April 15 ($100). After April 15 the entry fee becomes $125 per variety. The last day to enter the contest is May 15, 2022. The link to the rules and requirements can be accessed directly here:

https://yieldcontest.wheatfoundation.org/Content/RulesPDF/NWYC%20Entry%20Harvest%20Rules%202022.pdf

Ohio has historically followed all the national rules, but starting in 2022, Ohio Corn & Wheat Growers Association will not disqualify grades 3 & 4 wheat, only grade 5.  The national contest will continue to only accept grades 1 & 2 wheat.

In Ohio, each district’s first and second place winners will be recognized along with their seed dealers at the 2023 Celebration of Ohio Corn & Wheat.  The overall Ohio winner will receive a 1-year free lease on a seed tender from J & M Manufacturing.  The Ohio runner-up will receive free fungicide from BASF.  Twenty-four national winners will receive a trip to the March 2023 Commodity Classic in Orlando, Florida.