Kludt third in state in corn yield contest, tops 300 bushels

KENDALL – Matt Kludt of Kludt Brothers Farm is back on the leaderboard among the top corn growers in the state.

Kludt finished third in New York with 307.8705 bushels in strip-till, minimum-till, mulch-till, ridge-till non-irrigated class.

Matthew Swede of Piffard was first at 311.2497 bushels, with Ryan Swede of Pavilion second at 309.0837 bushels.

Kludt won the state title three straight from 2014 to 2016.

The National Corn Growers Association has held the yield contest for 61 years. This year there were nearly 7,800 entries from farmers in 47 states. Entrants across 10 production categories had verified yields averaging 269 bushels per acre.

The highest yield for the year came out of Charles City, Virginia – 572.2589 bushels per acre in Class H (strip-till irrigated) for David Hula.

“The Yield Contest is really about finding out what this crop is capable of,” said Ohio grower and NCGA President Jed Bower. “And as corn farmers, we get to show what we’re made of, too. It challenges participants to find innovative ways to succeed and contribute to decades of agronomic data that prove that American farmers are great at what we do.”

The winners will be honored at the Commodity Classic in San Antonio, Texas, from February 25-27.