JEFFERSONVILLE, Ohio – The corn and soybean winners in Seed Genetics Direct’s (SGD) 2025 Yield Contest both set records for the competition, an official with the company said.

In corn, the top yield was 323.36 bushels per acre by James Jacobs, of Bloomingburg, Ohio. For soybeans, the winning yield was 102.54 bushels from Wenning Farms Inc., of Greensburg, Ind. Jacobs won using SGD’s AGI-C-4111PWE. Wenning Farms achieved its top yield with SGD’s ET-4738E3.

“We were very pleased with the yield numbers in our contest entries,” said Todd Jeffries, SGD vice president. “One hundred and two bushels on soybeans. Wow! That was certainly a record for our contest and the 328 on corn was as well. It’s amazing how much the plants are able to produce given near favorable conditions.”

This is SGD’s fourth or fifth year offering a yield contest to their customers, he said. The company accepts entries into the National Corn Growers Association’s (NCGA) yield contest into its internal testing.

“We support the NCGA and the state yield trials but wanted to do something fun and exciting that only our customers can participate in,” Jeffries explained. “There is no state or national yield contest for soybeans, so we find it fun and interesting what our customers can produce.”

SGD’s internal yield contest is for the seed the company produces and sells, he added. As prizes, the contest’s winners received varying amounts of seed from SGD and herbicides from Herbicides Direct.

Jacobs ranked third in Ohio in the NCGA contest. Using another seed – AGI-C-6112PWE – he placed fifth in the NCGA state contest with 304.07 bushels. For first place, he received $5,000 in seed and $5,000 in herbicides.

Second place in the SGD contest for corn went to Don Jackson, of Camden, Ohio, with 297.06 bushels. He also used AGI-C-6112PWE. Jackson received $2,500 in seed and $2,500 in herbicides.

Hartsock Farms (Tim and Tom), of Circleville, Ohio, placed third with 257.79 bushels using AGI-C-3114PWE. Hartsock Farms received $2,000 in seed and $2,000 in herbicides.

Jeffries said the weather in spring 2025 had an impact on the contest yields.

“Last year, we had a very cool and a very wet spring with limited planting windows early,” he noted. “If someone was able to get planted in those April and early May windows, we saw a yield advantage, especially because the rain seemed to shut off the second half of July, all the way through most of September. Our entries with earlier planting dates tended to be near the top.”

For having the top yield in SGD’s soybean contest, Wenning Farms received $2,500 in seed and $2,500 in herbicides.

Second place in the soybean contest was Kannon Jones, of Greensfork, Ind., with 99.66 bushels. Jones used SGD’s ET-4736E3. Jones received $1,500 in seed and $1,500 in herbicides.

Third place in soybeans went to Bruce Stephens, of 85:10 Farms in Columbus Grove, Ohio. Stephens used SGD’s ET-3731E3 to achieve a yield of 90.89 bushels. He received $1,000 in seed and $1,000 in herbicides.

Jeffries said some farmers do things differently in their fields for the contest, while others do the same things they do across all their ground.

“Our contest just checks 1.25 acres, so a customer can try out a few things like switching up their fertilizer program, tinkering with nitrogen rates, biologicals, fungicides, etc.,” he said. “Farming is not a one-sized-fits-all business. What works in Ripley County might not exactly work in Tipton or Whitley counties. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet when entering these contests or raising a crop, other than getting rain at perfect timing.”

SGD’s yield contest has a later entry deadline than the one offered by NCGA, Jeffries pointed out. NCGA’s contest requires entries to be submitted by mid-August.

“Say someone was going to enter but they don’t feel like their corn or beans will be as good and they decide not to fuss with it. If they are able to capture some rains after that point, and once they start harvesting, they notice their crop is better than anticipated, they can enter up until Nov. 30 with us. We just need the measurements, a scale ticket and the signed entry form so we can verify.”