LANSING, Mich. – The winners of the Great Lakes Yield Enhancement Network (YEN) wheat competition have been announced. The Michigan Wheat Program, Michigan State University, Grain Farmers of Ontario, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the University of Guelph in Ontario made the announcement late last month.

This is the inaugural year of the Great Lakes YEN wheat competition. Last year, there was a competition done on a pilot program basis, according to Jody Pollok-Newsom, executive director of the Michigan Wheat Program. There were only four participants in last year’s pilot program, said Dennis Pennington, MSU’s wheat expert and point man on the YEN competition.

There were 123 participants in the 2022 competition. The winner of the yield competition was Jeffrey Kohn, of Elkton, Mich., with 165.92 bushels per acre. In second place was Andy Timmermans, of Stratford, Ontario, with 150.19 bushels per acre, and in third place was Kelsey Hill, of Arnprior, Ontario, with 144.13 bushels per acre.

The Great Lakes YEN project has helped farmers learn from each other about new ways to improve their yields, according to an announcement from the Michigan Wheat Program. Participants from this year’s Great Lakes YEN project will have the opportunity to network and discuss with their peers the practices that have worked on their farms at the wrap-up meetings in January.

“The grain yield is self-reported by the farmers,” Pennington said. “We ask them to do a one-and-a-half-acre size for the test plot. How did each farmers attain their yield? Jeff Krohn attained about double the yield of the average for wheat in the state of Michigan. If you’re getting that kind of yield then you’re doing something right.

“We just really need to get our farmers to be a little more open about what their techniques are that are working so well for them. We want to share that information with all wheat growers so they can get phenomenal yields, also.”

Pennington said that the key really is intensive management of the wheat crop and treating it as if it is a high priority crop. This means scouting for pests and diseases, for example. “We find that if you do intensive management of your wheat crop, you can bump up your yield quite a bit,” he said.

The other competition category was percentage of potential yield. Pennington explained this means how close the farmer is to getting the most he can out of his crop. The winners of that competition were: Krohn, with the highest percentage of potential yield at 87.97 percent; Timmermans with 79.07 percent, the second-place winner; and Aaron Stuckey from Archbold, Ohio, with 79.03 percent, the third-place winner.

Farmers interested in participating in the 2023 Great Lakes YEN are encouraged to visit https://greatlakesyesn/how-to-participate for more information and to register to receive program updates and to watch for the hashtag #GreatLakesYEN on Twitter. Registration for the program opened on Dec. 1 and will close on Jan. 7, 2023.

Companies interested in joining the Great Lakes YEN as a sponsor can contact the Michigan Wheat Program: email Jody Pollok-Newsom at jody@miwheat.org. Or email the Grain Farmers of Ontario: Joanne Tichborne at Jtichborne@gfo.ca.