Taking home a prize in the National Wheat Yield Contest is a fusion of agronomic science, field management practice and a bit of luck from Mother Nature. When all those elements come together, good things can happen.

Kody Stricker from Alliance, Nebraska, drew on all three in 2020. Stricker’s best management practices earned him a first-place state of Nebraska win with the National Wheat Yield Contest in the Winter Wheat — Irrigated category.

For Stricker, making the correct decisions began when he chose WestBred WB4303, a certified seed-only (CSO) variety, for his fields. “It seems to do very well under irrigation, and we haven’t had lodging issues or major disease problems yet,” Stricker says. “We purchase all our seed new each year, and we usually pick it up bulk and get it treated at the same time.”

Stricker then soil-tests everything before his seeds enter the ground. “In the fall, we usually spread dry fertilizer like 40 Rock — which is homogeneous — so every granule contains the same amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and zinc. This is spread after we harvest our dry, edible beans. We work the fertilizer into the soil, and then drill the field.”

He then lightly irrigates his field. “It’s good to get it up and out of the ground to help prevent wind erosion,” he says. “When temperatures are above freezing in the spring, we begin running the pivots more and more. Depending on the year and the amount of rainfall, we probably apply 4 to 8 inches of water. Last year, we were closer to the higher end of that range, or even more.”

But even the best management practices can’t overcome what Mother Nature has in store. “We had a light hailstorm come through about a week prior to harvest,” Stricker says. “I think the yield loss was around 15% on the test plot.”

In addition, wheat stem sawfly posed a bit of a challenge in his fields, mostly on his dryland acres, but also on the edges of his irrigated fields. “Crop rotation helps with sawfly, but it doesn’t solve it altogether. This past summer was hot and dry as well, so keeping up with watering on the irrigated wheat was important.”

However, even with those challenges, Stricker was able to achieve an award-winning 100.78 Bu/A on his field — enough for a first-place accolade in Nebraska.

You can read more about how Stricker took home the first-place prize by reading his full interview in Farm Progress: https://www.farmprogress.com/wheat/wheat-yield-contest-winner-shares-strategies.

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