DUBOIS, Ind. – The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Corn Yield Contest is an annual tradition that dates back to 1965. But in that time, no one has adorned the leaderboard more than Kevin Kalb, of Dubois, Ind.

Kalb is an expert on Midwest soils, proven by his record as a 12-time winner of the National Corn Yield Contest. And hitting 400 bushels per acre on test plots on his farm puts him atop the competition.

Not surprising, Kalb is already working on planting plans for 2023.

“Everyone is talking about 400-bushel corn, 400-bushel corn…. well, I don’t want 400, I want 443,” said Kalb, who produces corn, soybeans and turkeys on his farm in southern Indiana. “That’s the non-irrigated record. Yeah, it’s nice. You got to get to 400 first, but who cares about 400? I want to be the top dog.

“It’s not like we’re really competing against anybody else. I can’t control anybody else’s weather. I can’t even control mine, but we can control our setup for our success.”

Kalb’s setup for success, or his recipe for success, starts with plant fertility. Kalb monitors his plant fertility and health in season, so he can feed the plant and preserve the crop’s yield potential.

“You know, pull tissue samples. That’s our key. That’s our guideline. That’s our cheat sheet if you will,” Kalb said. “Tissue samples tell us exactly what the plant needs. It may take four or five years to get used to knowing how to read them and what the plant needs. But taking tissue samples is huge. We run a lot of fungicides and every field gets at least two shots and then our high yielding stuff will get three shots. My goal is to keep that plant healthy.”

Kalb’s complete agronomic plan involves protecting the plant throughout the growing season. That is, paying attention to weed management, insects and diseases. And, as needed, getting into the field with herbicides, fungicides and insecticides to make sure the grower is in control.

“Again, everything I do is based on tissue samples,” he said. “I don’t guess any more. High-yielding corn needs balanced nutrients applied when the plants need them.”

Kalb has three state placements for the highest yield in Indiana. His personal best came in 2021, when he delivered 409 bushel-per-acre results.

“We’re corn-on-corn,” Kalb said. “So, our biggest job to do and the main thing we do is try to handle this residue with our high-yielding corn. That’s the reason we run an 870 disc-ripper to help manage that trash really well. This feeds the microbes and gets it going for the next spring so there’s no residue left over because that’s where a lot of your disease comes from.”

Kalb’s farm is comprised mainly of timber clay soil with organic matter ranging around 2 percent.

“I don’t have great dirt,” Kalb said. “So, I emphasize plant nutrition. I don’t have the ability to irrigate and fertigate, so I really need to load my plants up early with nutrients.”

Nitrogen plays a big part of Kalb’s fertility program, but the amount needed to produce bumper corn yields isn’t as large as one might expect.

“My best year in the yield contest was in 2013 when I grew 374-bushel corn on 240 pounds of nitrogen,” he said.

He optimizes nitrogen by spoon-feeding it before and during the growing season. Applications start immediately following corn harvest, when he spreads one ton per acre of turkey manure packed with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. This is followed by a deep ripper that tills and incorporates residue on his mainly corn-after-corn acres.

Kalb is shooting for the non-irrigated corn record of 443-bushels per acre and said along with picking the right genetics, he advises waiting for ideal weather conditions for planting. He said the flood in 2017 changed his mind about early planting as he finished the end of April and lost the crop.

“I tell guys I know to have patience, wait until the time is right,” he said.

Getting into this growing contest came by way of chance. In 2007, Kalb’s seed dealer asked him to enter the NCGA yield contest. “I asked the dealer, ‘what kind of contest? I never heard of it.’” Kalb admitted.

Nevertheless, he entered. The only strategy he changed from previous years was a corn fungicide application. He was surprised at year’s end when he placed second in the nation in a dry land conventional division with a 280-bushel-per-acre yield.

“That hooked me,” he said.

He ramped up contest participation in 2021. “That was the year of a drought, but I brought in a yield of 282 bushels per acre when the county average was 45,” he said.

This resulted in a second-place division finish in Indiana. It also taught him that intensive management can trigger high yields even in a drought year.

“What I’m doing now is totally different than what I was doing back then,” he said.

For the 2022 contest, the entire Kalb clan (Kevin’s wife Shawn, and siblings Kevin, Rhylan, Emmersen and Nikia) swept the Indiana contestants, capturing the top three sports in the categories of conventional non-irrigated, no-till non-irrigated and ridge-till non-irrigated. In all cases, the DEKALB brand came into play.

“My own girls are getting old enough and they’re competitive,” Kalb said. “Just like me, they hate to lose. And eventually, that’s what we’re instilling in them. We tell them that nothing in life comes easy. If you want to be successful, you can’t sit around. Don’t be a follower, be a leader.”