How Top Farmers Turn Yield Contests Into Whole-Farm Success

Every year, yield contests capture attention with eye-popping numbers — world record yields now exceed 600 bushels for corn and 200 for soybeans. Although most winners don’t hit those extremes, many still top 300-bushel corn and 100-bushel soybeans using practices that can translate into practical, profitable strategies for any farm.

“Yield contests are about doing a hundred things 1% better,” said Troy Uphoff, an Illinois farmer and National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) yield winner. For him, that means looking at every planting pass, every fungicide decision, every hybrid choice, and asking where small improvements can be made.

None of those changes alone creates 600-bushel corn, but together, they compound into contest-level yields. It’s a philosophy of continuous refinement other yield winners and agronomists echo across crops and geographies.