When a Michigan wheat farmer enters the National Wheat Foundation’s contest, he or she is automatically entered into the Michigan Wheat Program Yield Competition — which seeks to identify the state’s “Wheat Warriors,” also known as the best producers, says Jody Pollok-Newsom, executive director of MWP.

The state winners were recently announced and honored.

With a yield of 171.1 bushels per acre, Nick Suwyn was the Michigan Wheat Program’s overall winner. The winning entry was recorded in Barry County in the Irrigated Soft Red Winter Wheat category. He also took first place in Dryland Soft Red Winter Wheat in Barry County with 162.9 bushels per acre.

OVERALL WINNER: Nick Suwyn was Michigan’s overall yield winner and placed second nationally. Pictured are (from left) Chandler Goule, NAWG CEO; Suwyn; and Bernard Peterson, NWF chair and a farmer from Bardstown, Ky. (Courtesy of MWP)

Suwyn’s yield with DF Seeds DF-131 was enough to garner him second place in the national winter wheat irrigated division. He also received a national second-place quality award, receiving an additional cash award in the soft winter wheat category.

Randy Eschenburg of Lapeer County took first place in Michigan and second place nationally in the Dryland Soft White Winter Wheat category with 169.8 bushels per acre.

The goals of the National Wheat Foundation’s contest are to enable knowledge transfer between growers, encourage experimentation with new technologies and support new ideas in wheat yield.

DRYLAND WHITE WINNER: Randy Eschenburg took first place in Michigan and second place nationally in the Dryland White Winter Wheat category. Pictured are (from left) Chandler Goule, NAWG CEO; Eschenburg; and Bernard Peterson, NWF chair and a farmer from Bardstown, Ky. (Courtesy of MWP)

List of winners

Here are the 2023 Michigan Wheat Yield Contest winners:

Dryland Soft White Winter Wheat

Dryland Soft Red Winter Wheat

Irrigated Soft Red Winter Wheat

Considering the dry weather in many parts of the state during grain fill last summer, farmers had a phenomenal year, says Dennis Pennington, Michigan State University wheat specialist.

The deadline to register for the 2024 contest is May 15. To enter the national (and Michigan) contest, visit yieldcontest.wheatfoundation.org. There is a fee of $125 per entry, but many times growers can get this covered by one of the contest’s sponsors, Pollok-Newsom says.

National winners are determined by the percent of their local county average wheat yield and broken down by marketing class. Top national winners receive a trip to the Commodity Classic.

Michigan follows National Wheat Foundation rules and procedures for entering, collecting data and reporting yields. However, in Michigan, winners are determined based on bushels-per-acre yield, not percent of county yield.

Winners will be selected in the categories of irrigated and dryland wheat, and in both red and white wheat. The top winner in each category receives a trip to Michigan’s Great Lakes Crop Summit held in January.

Source: MWP