Matthews Family Farms of Yadkin County garnered the highest yield in the 2016 North Carolina Corn Yield Contest with a yield of 320.20 bushels per acre on irrigated ground.

The contest results were announced at the North Carolina All Commodities Conference in Durham, Jan. 13. Kevin Matthews and his family were named the Irrigated Division champion and planted the variety Pioneer 1311AM at 44,000 plants per acre on 22 inch rows. Matthews Family Farm also received the No-Till Champion award for this class as well.

Russell Hedrick of Catawba County was declared the dryland division state winner for a yield of 318.5 bushels per acre. Hedrick was also named the no-till dryland statewide winner. Hedrick was also named the dryland contest winner for the Southern Piedmont area. He planted the variety Seedway SW-8000 in 20 inch row at 35,800 plants per acre.

The 2016 contest received 241 entries from 44 counties, a record for the number of counties submitting entries. Fifty-six different varieties among 12 different seed companies were represented while 51 percent of the yields entered were produced using no-till farming practices with 49 percent using conventional tillage.

The statewide average yield for the contest was 230.79 bushels per acre, the highest average contest yield ever recorded. For the irrigated division, awards were given without regard to geographic division. Winners in the dryland division are as follows:

In the Tidewater Division, Billy Mercer of Pasquotank County was the contest winner with a yield of 270.1 bushels per acre. Mercer planted the variety DeKalb DKC62-27 in 20 inch rows at a population of 38,000 seeds per acre.

The contest winner in the Northern Coastal Plain area is Harris Farms of Greene County for a yield of 260.01 bushels per acre. The variety Pioneer 2160 was planted in 30 inch rows at 34,000 seeds per acre.

The contest winner for the Southern Coastal Plain area is Tyler Sholar of Duplin County with a yield of 298.5 bushels per acre. Sholar planted Pioneer 2089 in 36 inch rows at a rate of 30,000 seeds per acre.

In the Northern Piedmont area, Atwood Farms of Davie County is the contest winner for a yield of 289.62 bushels per acre. They planted Pioneer 1257 in 30 inch rows at a rate of 32,000 seeds per acre.

Wood Farm of Cherokee County is the winner in the mountain area with a yield of 282.62 bushels per acre. They planted the variety Pioneer 1197HR in 30 inch row at a rate of 34,000 seeds per acre.