Last Call to enter the Yield and Quality Contest

The deadline to enter the South Dakota Soybean Yield and Quality Contest is August 31^st, according to Johnna Ringkob, market development and research director at South Dakota Soybean.

“It’s a contest where we encourage all the soybean producers in the state to submit their best-yielding fields and varieties so we can compare them against each other and so we can follow the trends that soybeans are developing in South Dakota,” Ringkob told the South Dakota Soybean Network, during Dakotafest at Mitchell.

Each contest entry adds to agronomic data valuable to all soybean growers in South Dakota, said Jeff Kloucek, who is part of the committee that plans the annual competition.

“We have ten different categories based on your field practices and your maturity groups,” said Kloucek. “All the data is taken in from the yields and we have a spreadsheet that goes back I don’t know how many years with all that data in, so we’re always using that data from the entries to learn and improve on practices out in the field as far as how we’re growing soybeans trying to push these yields up.”

Contest performance data determine winners, who get cash prizes, according to Kloucek, a South Dakota Soybean Association Director. The data is analyzed by a South Dakota State University specialist and shared among all growers at a South Dakota Soybean-sponsored event.

“People learn a lot, and we use that data, and then it’s presented in the spring at our Soy100 Conference,” he said. “We get the information as far as what worked on these fields for these yield contest winners. We present that back to the farmers so that they can take those practices to their farm and put them into practice.”

Publishing performance parameters helps all South Dakota growers, said Johnna Ringkob.

“It just gives you an idea of what type of varieties you should be looking at, maybe dependent on the counties that they’re being raised in and how that compares in your county or your area,” said Ringkob. “It gives you an idea of the practices they’re using; who’s using no-till, irrigation, things like that to compare. We also look at herbicides, fertilizer, different things that all go into raising a successful crop.”

Enter the South Dakota Soybean Yield and Quality Contest by August 31^st online at www.sdsoybean.org, or by calling the South Dakota Soybean Association office in Sioux Falls at 605-330-9942.