Pennyslvania Five Acre Corn Club: Impacts and Issues.

The Pennsylvania Five Acre Corn Club has been in existence since 1965 and has provided a means to record the performance of top producers in the state and document management practices.  The program is a collaboration between the Pennsylvania Corn Growers Association and Penn State and serves as an excellent link between the two organizations.  It provides an opportunity for interaction and education between local extension educators and some of the larger more progressive growers in their communities.  This has led to grower involvement in winter extension programs and development of on farm trial collaborations on other projects.  The Corn Club has allowed us to document growth in management practices such as sidedressing, no-till, transgenic crops and reduced insecticide use.  We have also been able to document improvement in yields over time for the club and individual growers and this has been dramatic.  Yields in the Club have averaged 3.98 bu/acre/year for the past 20 years compared to 2.2 bu/acre/year for the state average.  Some of the challenges of the program have been 1) the challenging and unpredictable harvest schedules, 2) competition with the National Corn Yield Contest, 3) lack of recognition for the program internally, and 4) funding the effort.  For some there is a perception that the Club encourages high input management systems and that is true in some cases.  One downside is that sometimes winners are encouraged to promote practices that may not contribute much to the final yield in exchange for compensation and this generates some ethical concerns.  Overall the Club has been a positive factor in building relationships, reinforcing management recommendations, and recognizing top corn producers in our state.