DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- David Hula's reign as a corn yield winner continues, and it is a story of resiliency. Although the Charles City, Virginia, farmer faced some tough weather scenarios this year, he produced a 490.6276-bushel-per-acre (bpa) yield to top the 2024 National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Yield Contest. It is the 13th national high yield win in the contest for Hula.

Hula's winning entry in the irrigated strip-till category came with Pioneer variety P14830VYHR, the same hybrid he planted to set the contest yield record in 2023 with a yield of 623.8430 bpa. He is the only farmer to exceed 600 bpa in the national contest and has done it three times (2019, 2021 and 2023).

Sponsored annually by the National Corn Growers Association for the past 60 years, the 2024 contest produced 30 national winners in 10 production categories from 12 different states. Six of the winning entries exceeded 400 bpa, and the national winning entries represented an average of 367.5143 bpa.

Looking back to its modest beginnings in 1965, NCGA's Yield Contest launched with just 20 entries across four states -- Indiana, Iowa, Illinois and Ohio. The winning corn yield that inaugural year was 218.9 bpa. By 1968, the Yield Contest grew to 412 entries spanning 34 states. Contest winners produced an average of 246.69 bushels per acre in 1987 with more than 2,500 growers from 45 states. Categories have also changed over time.

Fast forward to 2024. Overall, NCGA announced the contest generated nearly 7,800 contest entries from farmers in 45 states with verified yields averaging 284 bpa across the contest categories, according to NCGA.

Following with the second-highest yield in the 2024 contest was Hula's son, Craig Hula, with a 461.3025-bpa entry in the same irrigated, strip-till category. The highest non-irrigated entry this year was a 405.1317-bpa entry (strip-till, minimum till, mulch-till, ridge-till class) grown in Decatur County, Iowa, by Galt Porter of Mercer, Missouri.

MORE ON HULA'S 2024 ENTRY

David Hula has made no secret of the fact that he loves growing corn and figuring out the finer points to making it yield. But this year was more of a challenge than a 490.6276-bpa yield might indicate, he told DTN.

"This year proved to be the best start that we've ever had based on corn emergence. Then, our weather turned cool briefly followed by a drought. We had never previously made a corn crop by irrigating, but this year, we started early and did not stop pumping water until pollination," said Hula.

Stewardship is key for Hula since his Renwood Farm lies in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the largest estuary in the U.S. His irrigation source is surface water from the James River.

Irrigation is a tool, but it doesn't provide the same results as a rain, he noted. He jokingly likes to say: "Irrigating out of the James River provides no consistency other than being wet."

"The water is constantly changing, and during a drought, we monitor for salinity due to lack of fresh water coming from upstream. This year was the sixth time since 1985 that we had to stop irrigating due to salinity, which impacts the soybean crop more than the corn," he said.

But with the droughty conditions also came higher temperatures. Daytime temperatures were in the upper 90s Fahrenheit, and nighttime temps hovered in the high 70s to mid-80s during grain fill. That is not a good recipe for high yields, he noted.

"Irrigated yields were better than we expected. Dryland corn struggled," Hula said. "There were growers in Virginia that did not harvest their crop due to the drought."

"Despite our crop being 40 bushels below our APH (actual production history), we feel we were blessed considering what other growers faced," he said.

CHECKING BOXES

This year's entry, Pioneer P14830VYHR, a 114-day hybrid, is classified as a HTF (high total fermentable) hybrid for the dry grind ethanol market. It contains the technology known as Optimum AcreMax Leptra, which pyramids above-ground traits with LibertyLink and Roundup Ready herbicide tolerances. The Viptera portion of that stack was particularly important due to the high level of corn earworm pressure the area faces.

The entry followed soybeans in the rotation, was planted in 30-inch rows and recorded a harvest population of 47,900 plants per acre. It received a total of 420 pounds of nitrogen, 137 pounds of phosphorus, 360 pounds of potash, 6 pounds of boron, 60 pounds of sulfur and 15 pounds of zinc. Application methods included a Soil Warrior strip-till machine, a starter application made with EZ-Drops mounted on the John Deere sprayer and 2 tons of chicken litter per acre.

Hula uses a systems approach to managing his crop. While often asked for his secret sauce to achieve bumper yields, Hula prefers to talk about "checking boxes."

The first box is checked by soil sampling and then evaluating corn emergence by flagging seedlings as they spike. Stragglers are not welcome.

Tissue sampling around 350 to 425 GDU (growing degree units) tells him whether the crop can be pushed or if it is just regular irrigated corn. He looks at many parameters to make that assessment.

"I'm constantly walking these fields and watching for potential. We must be ROI (return on investment) minded. It makes no sense to throw money at a crop if the potential doesn't exist," he said.

Routine management practices such as applications of products such as Relay (in-furrow), Titan XC or Accomplish MAX and humic acids are standard. He adjusts in-season management based on tissue samples.

Despite the drought, boxes were getting checked just fine until grain fill, Hula said. "Then we noticed that even with irrigation, we couldn't keep tissue level up to the levels expected. Due to the excessive heat, the plant did what it naturally does, but at a faster rate."

OFFENSIVE PUNCHES

While you can't totally outsmart nature, Hula said there are other ways to give the crop a fighting chance in the face of tough conditions. "We go beyond right product, right acre. The goal is to place the right seed in the right environment," he said.

These ways include:

-- He knows his planter. In recent years, he's taken dramatic steps to improve singulation and provide consistent and even emergence. New additions have included the John Deere ExactEmerge system, hydraulic down pressure and ExactRate liquid delivery system for starter applications in each row. Read DTN's story on Hula's planter here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

-- He gets to know each hybrid. "This is our second year with P14830VYHR (this) hybrid, and once you grow it, you begin to understand its personality -- such as standability, plant health and kernel management requirements," he said.

-- He knows his fields. Hula, like most farmers, knows where the good spots in the field are located, but through 1-acre grids, he has information as to why they are better. "Unlike what one would expect, there is no one field that has magic dirt. Over the years, our high yields have come from many different fields in multiple counties," he said.

-- He knows his seed. "As a grower, we expect good-quality seed. We trust, but we still verify," he said. "Each seed lot is tested to understand what environment is best to plant in." For several years, the farm has depended on SoDak Labs Inc. in Brookings, South Dakota, to test seed. For higher yielding goals, Hula will also do some overtreating and regrading of seed for more uniformity.

A lot of tactics Hula uses have been learned by listening to what other farmers experience, he said. He, along with another previous corn yield contest winner, Randy Dowdy, have put together a program called Total Acre that coaches other growers in the ways of producing higher returns on investment in a sustainable way.

"When this crop emerged this year, I really thought we had something special, and then I feel the Good Lord humbled me to reinforce that only through Him can great things happen," Hula said.

"Despite the yield being short of our goal this season, I am pleased with the result, and I am starting to plan for next season."

For national and state results of the 2024 NCGA contest and a press release on the contest, go to https://ncga.com/….

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2024 NCGA Corn Yield Contest First Place Winners:

-- Conventional Non-Irrigated

Sam Santini, 383.4336 bpa, Stewartsville, New Jersey

-- Conventional Non-Irrigated (Corn Belt states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin)

Troy Uphoff, 385.8807 bpa, Findlay, Illinois

-- No-till Non-Irrigated

Robert Santini, 337.1218 bpa, Bloomsbury, New Jersey

-- No-till Non-Irrigated (Corn Belt states)

Shawn Kalb, 402.7334 bpa, Dubois, Indiana

-- Strip-till Non-Irrigated (includes Minimum-till, Mulch-till, Ridge-till)

Michelle Santini, 353.2038 bpa, Phillipsburg, New Jersey

-- Strip-till Non-Irrigated (Corn Belt states)

Galt Porter, 405.1317 bpa, Mercer, Missouri (field located in Iowa)

-- No-till Irrigated

Ben Jackson, 400.3078 bpa, Wrightsville, Georgia

-- Strip-till Irrigated (includes Minimum-till, Mulch-till, Ridge-till)

David Hula, 490.6276 bpa, Charles City, Virginia

-- Conventional Irrigated

Rodney Harrell, 393.8045 bpa, Leesburg, Georgia

-- Nitrogen Management

Richie Malone, 323.9811 bpa, Arion, Iowa

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Pamela Smith can be reached at pamela.smith@dtn.com

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