By TIM ALEXANDER Illinois Correspondent MILLEDGEVILLE, Ill. — Separated by only a few miles, corn yields varied greatly in early- and late-season trials conducted on northwestern Illinois crop fields by Farmers’ Independent Research of Seed Technologies (FIRST). On the Steve Hollewell farm in Milledgeville (Carroll County), Wyffels’ W4196 variety tied for highest yield in an early-season test of 54 corn hybrid varieties, at 276 bushels per acre. With Genuity VT Double Pro seed technology, the Wyffels product earned $836 per acre in gross income to take the overall No. 1 rank for the trial. Also finishing with 276 bushels, but with $829 in gross income per acre, was Golden Harvest’s G06Z97-3120-EZR brand. Another Golden Harvest variety, G03C84-3120-EZR, took third place in the early-season trial with 273.8 bushels per acre and $823 in gross income. Average yield for the test was 253.4 bushels, with average gross income of $768 per acre. A full-season test on the same farm, with a land profile of Osco silt loam, well-drained and non-irrigated, was paced by Wyffels variety W6896, also with VT2P seed technology. The seed produced a 293.7-bushel yield and $835 per acre in gross income. LG Seeds’ LG5606STX was second in yield, with 288.7 bushels and $819 in gross income. Finishing third in final yield but earning top economics in the trial was Burrus Power Plus 4A67, with 286.7 bushels and a gross income of $846 per acre. The 54 seed products in the full-season test averaged 262.2 bushels per acre, with average gross income of $764 per acre. Both early- and full-season test plots were planted on April 24. In nearby Pearl City (Stevenson County), corn yields and income were a bit lower than reported in Milledgeville. In a FIRST early-season field test of 54 hybrids conducted at the Todd Randecker farm, average corn yield was 213.5 bushels per acre, with average gross income of $660 per acre. The test was led by Nu Tech/G2 Gen variety 5F-504, with Optimum Acre Max and Refuge Blend technologies. The variety produced a yield of 241.7 bushels and gross income of $743 per acre, earning overall top ranking. A full-season test at the Randecker farm, with Osco-Durand silt loam soil, well-drained and non-irrigated, was led by LG Seeds’ LG5606STX, with 253.2 bushels per acre and $762 in gross income. The 54 varieties in this test averaged 226.5 bushels and $685 per acre gross income. The production and earnings differences in the neighboring counties offer a lesson on how local weather conditions and stress can lead to performance and yield anomalies, according to Jason Beyers, FIRST field test supervisor for northwestern Illinois. “Pearl City went through more stress with cool, wet conditions,” he said, following the Oct. 25 completion of harvest at both sites. “At one time it actually had 3 feet of water standing on it after pollination.” In addition, the Milledgeville farm may offer better fertility through “a little heavier soil” than the Pearl City farmland, Beyers said, and the Milledgeville farm owner has plenty of access to fresh manure for fertilizer. “We had more emergence issues up in Pearl City than in Milledgeville. That might have had something to do with the little-bit tighter clay,” he explained. Overall, the FIRST corn harvest at the Hollewell farm in Milledgeville was representative of area farmers’ yields, said Beyers, who lives just a few miles south of Pearl City and north of Milledgeville. “Pearl City was probably lacking compared to up here in the area,” he observed. “I think the area went through a little more stress.” The contrast in yields was particularly striking in that Randecker’s Pearl City farm averages 221.7 bushels an acre per year in corn, while Hollewell’s Milledgeville farmland averages just 214.7 in annual yield. |
