David Heublein’s 2023 corn crop benefited from the value of good seed genetics, crop management and a little help from above.

Heublein and his wife, Jennifer, operate Heublein Family Farms near Lewiston in Winona County, Minn., which, like most farmers in the state, endured a drought last year.

Despite receiving only about 7 inches of rain during the growing season, Heublein harvested 314-bushel-per-acre corn on his 10-acre plot for the 2023 National Corn Growers Association yield contest.

“Just guessing, I think we were about one-third of normal rainfall,” he says. Rainfall was 1.1 inches in May, 1.5 in June, 3.9 in July and 0.5 inch in August.

“What helped us at home is we have Port Byron silt loam and Mount Carroll silt loam, and they’re a heavy black soil type, along with minimum rain to give surprising yields,” he says.

As Heublein checked the crop throughout the growing season, he could tell yields would be OK considering the lack of rainfall — but he still didn’t believe the combine yield monitor, even though it was calibrated multiple times due to second-guessing the reading.

From the NCGA contest 10-acre plot, growers harvest 1.25 acres. Using a six-row header, Heublein picked six rows and skipped 18 rows, repeating that pattern until he had the 1.25 acres harvested. That grain was taken to a local co-op where the yield was validated.

TOP YIELDS: David Heublein (right) was recognized for high corn yields at the 2022 Commodity Classic in New Orleans with Dekalb Asgrow Brand Lead Dipal Chaudhari. (Osborn Barr Paramore)

In addition to the soil types being favorable to conserving the moisture that did fall, Heublein credits planting May 1 in “perfect soil conditions,” with a planter that maintains 100 pounds of down pressure, clean sweeps and residue management. He also has been grid soil sampling for about 20 years and applies fertilizer and lime on the grid.

Aside from bumping the plant population from 36,500 seeds per acre on the rest of his corn ground to 38,500 on the contest plot, all other practices were the same across his acres. “We’ve only got a few acres, so we try to get maximum yield on all of them,” he says.

Heublein gives credit where credit is due, maintaining his loyalty over the years to Dekalb seed. The 2023 record-setter is DKC59-82RIB.

Also giving credit where it’s due, Heublein says, “We were truly blessed to have a bountiful year and thank the good Lord for providing us with just enough rain to give us corn yield here at home.”

2023 yields: Good, bad and ugly

Not all of the Heublein corn yielded 314 bushels. “In 2023, we did have some real challenges in Minnesota. We operate three farms, one of those north of Fremont, and we had less than 5 inches of rain on that one. And our yield was hurt badly,” he says. “The other farm is near Wilson, and we had high wind and golf-ball-sized hail July 14, resulting in a much lower yield as well. It’s almost the tale of three farms here. Three different yields, three different challenges.”

Heublein has participated in the NCGA contest since 1991, and he has seen a steady increase in his yields over the years. “That first year we got 209.27 bushels an acre, and last year we got 314.95,” he says. “That’s a 33% increase.”

Looking ahead to the upcoming growing season, Heublein plans on using rootworm technology to help his corn crop. He will also keep his eyes on the sky, looking for rainclouds to replenish the soil moisture. Rain or no rain, he will continue the practices that got his corn to 314 bushels per acre.

“Not one of these things will get you 314-bushel corn by itself, but all of these practices working together will get you to that level,” he says.