BELLEVILLE, Ill. — John Barttlebort’s farm near Belleville in southern Illinois contains some of the richest soil in the state – and when combined with near-perfect growing conditions as existed last year, the results are eye-opening.

While some of Barttlebort’s plot in previous years recorded, as part of the Illinois-based Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (FIRST) program, impressive corn yields in the 230-bushels-per-acre range, this year’s total improved by more than 10 percent.

"His farm always has had the potential to do really, really well because of his soil type," said Eric Beyers, FIRST site manager for Barttlebort’s plot. "His soil rivals the high-quality soil in central Illinois and is among the best in the state."

Beyers said weather conditions were nearly perfect from planting to harvesting. "They were very good planting conditions to begin with … the weather cooperated nicely during pollination … there were great uniform stands and just about every ear was filled with kernels all the way to the tips."

Barttlebort’s soil is a muscatine silt loam that doesn’t drain well; he doesn’t irrigate and tills in the fall. He usually alternates corn and soybeans each year. Corn seed went into the ground on May 10 and harvest took place exactly six months later.

The average yield in the early-season test was 240.2 bushels per acre, while the full-season test results came in at 243.7 bushels. In the early-season test, AgriGold variety A6499STXRIB finished first at 262.5 bushels per acre with a gross income return of $979 per acre.

Beck’s XL 5828AM finished second-best at 260.3 bushels per acre on a return of $971 per acre, and Augusta’s A5658GT3000 came in third with a yield of 257.3 bushels on a return of $960.

In the full-season test, NuTech/G2 Gen variety 5Z-713 finished in the top spot with a yield of 263.4 bushels per acre on a return of $982 per acre, just ahead of Wyffels’ W7888RIB, which yielded 263.3 bushels with a gross income of $982.

In third place was Steyer’s 11504VT2PRO RIB, at 258.6 bushels per acre with a gross income return of $965 per acre.