South Dakota Soybean Yield Contest Participants Continue to Break Records

Scott McKee, a farmer from Union County, took home Overall First Place in the South Dakota Soybean Soybean Yield Contest with his record-breaking soybean yield of 106.6 bushels per acre, breaking his previous record of 103.7 bushels per acre from last year’s contest. McKee planted DuPont Pioneer variety 25T51R. The South Dakota Soybean Research and Promotion Council and the South Dakota Soybean Association announced the awards at the annual Soybean Recognition Banquet on December 9.

“Anywhere from expanding my fertilizer program to using different kinds of crop protection products to upping the population, the South Dakota Soybean Yield Contest has really allowed me to experiment with my management strategies,” McKee said.

Scott McKee (right) accepts his 2015 South Dakota Soybean Yield Contest award from SDSA Past President John Horter at the Soybean Recognition Banquet on Wednesday. McKee is farmer in Union County, and harvested a record-yield of 106.6 bushels per acre for the South Dakota Soybean Yield Contest.

“In the past, we’ve seen farmers pushing hard for maximum corn yields, but the same effort wasn’t given to boosting soybean yields. That has changed in recent years, thanks in part to the South Dakota Soybean Yield Contest,” said Jon Schaeffer, farmer from Viborg and chairman of the South Dakota Soybean Yield Contest Committee. “Now that we’ve crossed the 100-bushel threshold, we continue to see record-breaking yields entered in the yield contest, and we look forward to seeing how far we push the yield envelope in the future.”

Close to 350 farmers submitted Soybean Yield Contest entries in ten categories. Yields across all of the categories ranged from 22 to 106 bushels per acre.

Entries for the yield contest were categorized by soybean maturity and sub-divided into three groups: Irrigated, Non-irrigated and No-till. Each first-place winner received a $2,000 cash prize and up to $2,000 for a non-transferable trip for two to the 2016 Commodity Classic in New Orleans, La. The second place winner in each category received a $1,500 cash prize, and the third place winner in each category received a $1,000 cash prize.

For a complete list of winners, see the “2015 Yield Contest Results.” First place winners of the annual yield contest were:

• Nathan Hoeft– 73.98 bushels/acre, Spink County, Group 0 Non-Irrigated Category
• Kent Mettler– 76.35 bushels/acre, Yankton County, Group 0 No-Till Category
• Kory Standy– 92.54 bushels/acre, Charles Mix County, Group 0 or 1 Irrigated Category
• Jacob Waldner– 84.79 bushels/acre, Clark County, Group 1 Non-Irrigated Category
• Kent Mettler– 88.29 bushels/acre, Yankton County, Group 1 No-Till Category
• Scott McKee– 106.61 bushels/acre, Union County, Group 2 Non-Irrigated Category
• Tim Hofer– 87.79 bushels/acre, Hutchinson County, Group 2 No-Till Category
• Chandler Standy– 96.81 bushels/acre, Charles Mix County, Group 2 or 3 Irrigated Category
• Scott McKee– 97.15 bushels/acre, Union County, Group 3 Non-Irrigated Category

The South Dakota Soybean Yield Contest also featured a quality contest. The top two highest quality entries in each maturity group (Groups 0, 1, 2 and 3) received $500 cash for first place and $300 cash for second place. Soybean quality is determined by the Estimated Processed Value (EPV) from the oil and protein content of soybeans, and is expressed as a value of converting the protein and oil in the soybean into soybean meal, oil and hulls. View the 2015 Quality Contest Results.

South Dakota Soybean has scheduled a series of Soybean Success Seminars to share big bushel secrets for farmers in early February. The Soybean Success Seminars will feature one of two speakers: Al Kluis, broker, trader and owner of Kluis Commodities or Denis Todey, SDSU State Climatologist. The Soybean Success Seminars will also feature recommendations and discussions with agronomists. For complete agenda information, visit www.sdsoybean.org.

Soybean Success Seminars:

Aberdeen Dakota Events Center February 1 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Watertown Events Center February 2 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Mitchell Highland Conference Center February 3 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Sioux Falls Best Western Ramkota February 4 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.