Kansas Soybean Yield Contest: Trends over Time.

Each year the Kansas Soybean Association, in conjunction with the Kansas Soybean Commission, reward exceptional growers for their outstanding performance in soybean production with the Kansas Soybean Yield and Value Contest.  The contest is an incentive for producers to maximize soybean yield and protein and oil contents, and is an opportunity to share producer practices used to achieve those high levels of yield and quality. Winners from eight districts across Kansas are recognized at the Kansas Soybean Expo in Topeka during the month of January with certificates and monetary awards.  Prizes are awarded for the top three yielding soybean entries in conventional and no-till categories in each district.  Producers with the top three entries in the state for the Soybean Value Contest are also awarded with a certificate and a monetary prize. When evaluating contest yield winners over the last 20 years, improvements have mirrored that of the national average with a yearly yield gain of nearly 0.33 bushel per acre. Several best management practices, like crop rotation, have been consistent through time. However, newer practices like fungicides and insecticides have increased in frequency the last several years of the contest.