It took 10 years, but a new record yield was set in the 2008 Manitoba Corn Grower Association’s (MCGA) yield competition.
Niverville-area farmer Lorne Loeppky’s Pioneer 39D96 yielded 252.95 bushels an acre just barely exceeding the previous record of 252.61 set by Ken and Merley Wiebe in 1998.
In 2008, a new record average yield for Manitoba corn production was set at 120 bushels an acre – up one bushel from the record set in 2007. (However, some cornfields have yet to be harvested and those yields could bring down the average.)
Read Also
Mazergroup’s Bob Mazer dies
Mazergroup’s Bob Mazer, who helped grow his family’s company into a string of farm equipment dealerships and the main dealer for New Holland machinery in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, died July 6 from cancer.
Loeppky, a director of the MCGA, was presented with the corn competition award trophy, plus $500 from Pioneer Hi-Bred Feb. 12 during the Manitoba Special Crops Symposium in Winnipeg.
John Isaak of Altona, who has won the competition three times, placed second with a yield of 226.51 bushels an acre. G & J Farms of Altona placed third with a yield of 213.96 bushels an acre.
Many corn growers harvested their best crop ever in 2008, despite a cool start to the growing season and below-average corn heat units for the entire year. Fortunately an unusually long frost-free period that went well into October allowed most crops to mature, although many crops were harvested at higher moisture levels.
Yields in the competition do not represent the average from a field or even an acre of corn. Instead competitors are allowed to select parts of rows, which are hand picked and harvested. The idea when the competition first began in 1971 was to demonstrate the yield potential for corn.
1992 was the first year competitors exceeded the 200-bushel-an-acre mark. In 2008 four of the 59 entries exceed 200 bushels an acre, compared to 17 out of 93 in 2007.
The top 10 winners are as follows:
1) Lorne Loeppky, Niverville, Pioneer 39B96, 22-inch spacing, 252.95 bushels an acre.
2) John Isaak, Altona, Pioneer 39D97, 30 inches, 226.51.
3) G & J Farms, Altona, Pioneer 39D97, 30 inches, 213.68.
4) Blumengart Colony, Plum Coulee, Pioneer 39B96, 30 inches, 213.39
5) Blumengart Colony, Plum Coulee, Pioneer 39B96, 30 inches, 199.08.
6) Froese Enterprises, Winkler, Pioneer 39D97, 30 inches, 198.15.
7) Tyler Russell, Carman, Pioneer 39D97, 30 inches, 197.45.
8) Baker Colony, MacGregor, Pioneer 39Z69, 30 inches, 196.77.
9) Roland Unger, Arden, Dekalb DKC26-79, 30 inches, 193.86.
10) Kyle Friesen, Altona, Pioneer 39Z69, 30 inches, [email protected]
