DU QUOIN, Ill. — Don Polczynski and his son, Matt, regularly use the "velvet" touch of a Phillips Rotary Harrow in the spring to level his clay soil after nitrogen has been applied.

The compact soil has poor drainage, but the machine’s flexible rotating fingers work the first few inches of topsoil perfectly, said Eric Beyers, site manager for the Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (FIRST) program.

On average, Polczynski’s 200-acre field has seen a wide variety of corn yield totals over the years, Beyers said, from as low as 50 bushels per acre to as high as about 170.

This year, however, all of the factors that can affect yield worked in Polczynski’s favor. "It was the best year I’ve ever seen on the farm," Beyers said, noting he has had experience with that farm since the early 1990s.

"He had excellent, uniform stands to begin with, the ear development was great, and he got rain at the right times and his planting window worked out perfectly."

Early-season hybrids on the test plot averaged a whopping 201.1 bushels per acre while the full-season hybrids came in with an average 188 bushels.

Polczynski planted his corn on May 28, about the same time he usually gets his crop in the ground. He harvested Nov. 12. He doesn’t till his poorly drained, cisne clay loam soil, which had moderately high levels of P and K and a pH level of 7.5. He alternates beans and corn each year.

The top three performers in the early-season test were AgriGold’s A6499STXRIB with a yield of 228.2 bushels per acre and a gross income return of $847 per acre; Spectrum’s 6241 at 222.9 bushels on a return of $908; and LG Seeds’ LG5618STXRIB at 219.5 bushels on a return of $817 an acre.

Top performers in the full-season test were Seed Consultants’ SC 11AQ35 at 209.7 bushels per acre and a return of $779 per acre; Beck’s 6347 at 207 bushels with a return of $766; and Wyffels’ W7888RIB with a yield of 205.3 bushels and a return of $759.