JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (DTN) -- A pair of new names joined two familiar ones amongst the list of wheat growers earning the title of "Bin Buster" in the 2024 National Wheat Yield Contest. On Monday, the National Wheat Foundation (NWF) announced this year's 26 national and 94 state winners, including those who topped the contest's four main categories.

Phillip Gross of Warden, Washington, bested all contestants in 2024 and earned Bin Buster honors with his irrigated hard red winter wheat entry that yielded 223.08 bushels per acre (bpa). It's the second-highest yield recorded in the contest's nine-year history and Gross' fifth time atop the category.

The dryland winter wheat Bin Buster was Steve VanGrunsven of Forest Grove, Oregon, who earned the title for the second time with soft white winter wheat that averaged 170.63 bpa. Jess Blatchford of Baker City, Oregon, was named Bin Buster for the first time with irrigated soft white spring wheat yielding 174.74 bpa; while Nick Pfaff of Bismarck, North Dakota, also a first-time Bin Buster, took the dryland spring wheat category with an entry of 117.60 bpa.

The NWF yield contest is designed to encourage wheat growers to strive for high yield, quality and profit while trying new and innovative management strategies. DTN/Progressive Farmer is the official media outlet of the competition.

The overall contest record was set in 2022 by Rylee Reynolds of Castleford, Idaho, who produced 231.37 bpa of irrigated soft white winter wheat.

Additional national awards were presented to dryland wheat growers who raised a crop that excelled when compared to others in the county where it was produced. Entries are judged based on their percentage above their five-year Olympic county average, a figure published annually by USDA. This levels the playing field and provides a means of recognizing growers who succeed at producing wheat in lower-yielding areas.

This year, David Ebers of Wellston, Oklahoma, produced dryland hard red winter wheat that yielded 136.42 bpa -- 350.52% above his county average of 30.28 bpa. In Richardton, North Dakota, Greg Messer raised dryland hard red spring wheat that yielded 106.65 bpa, which was 166.49% above his county average of 40.02 bpa.

NWF also tested out a new category, Digital Yield, as part of this year's contest. Open to dryland spring wheat growers in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, this pilot category allowed growers to use technologies such as John Deere Operations Center, Climate FieldView or Bushel -- along with data from their calibrated grain cart scales -- to submit their yield into the contest from a 20-acre selected area from a previously entered field. By comparison, the four main categories require that contestants harvest and report at least 1.5 contiguous acres.

Brad Disrud of Rolla, North Dakota, won this new category with a hard red spring wheat that yielded 102 bpa across 20 acres. John Hofer of Milnor, North Dakota, earned the digital yield award for highest percentage above county average with a yield of 98 bpa, which was 61.98% above his county average of 60.5 bpa.

"We are pleased with how the pilot digital yield category went and how much we can learn from it," said Anne Osborne, NWF project manager for the contest. "We expect to continue this type of category and will take time this winter to gather feedback from the participants and our partners who helped us develop this category to refine it even more."

Both spring and winter wheat growers faced their share of weather challenges while producing this year's crop. DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick noted extensive drought was ongoing to start the planting season for winter wheat last fall in the Central and Southern Plains -- but only in parts of Nebraska, Kansas, southern Oklahoma and Texas. The majority of the soft red winter wheat areas were in much better shape, though they did get dry for a few weeks during the early growing period.

"There was a nice burst of precipitation in October 2023 with a strong storm system that went through, otherwise the fall was rather dry," Baranick said. "The winter was not. It was a very active period through most of the middle of the country and Pacific Northwest, especially in January.

"While the Northern Plains didn't end up with a lot of snow, they did get decent enough moisture as soils rarely froze and frost lines were very shallow," he added. "The good precipitation either reduced or eliminated drought for most all wheat-growing territories, bringing in some good soil moisture and making it available as spring started early with warm temperatures in February and March."

Though temperatures were generally above normal in April and May, Baranick said there were a couple of cold snaps that brought some frost damage in hard red winter wheat areas and some northern soft red winter ones.

"The pattern stayed active in spring, though it was patchy," he said. "Some areas of drought came and went, but by the beginning of May, almost none of the wheat territory in the country had drought."

The exception, he noted, was central and western Kansas, a region that just seemed to miss out on most of the rainfall while kernels were filling. The weather improved in June, but by that point, it was too late.

"And the severe weather that was now very active became more of a hindrance," Baranick concluded. "In contrast, spring wheat areas in the Northern Plains and even much of the Pacific Northwest continued to have largely favorable weather into the summer. Drought stayed low until the crop was starting to undergo harvest when the pattern turned hotter and drier."

Thanks to the combination of a mostly conducive growing season and the creation of a new website, interest in the contest soared in 2024. Osborne said total entries reached a record 516 this year, eclipsing the contest's all-time high set in 2020 by nearly 100 entries.

"The new website, along with all our great partners promoting the contest, created more interest and enthusiasm for the contest," said Bernard Peterson, NWF chairman and farmer from Bardstown, Kentucky. "We appreciate all the growers who participated and our partners who supported the contest. Congratulations to all the winners and to everyone who is learning how to raise higher yield and quality wheat through their experiences in the contest."

In total, 94 state yield contest winners were named from 29 states. Their yield average across all categories was 133.09 bpa, up from 127 bpa in 2023. The 24 national winners in the contest's four traditional categories hail from 11 states. Their entries' yield average was 145.05 bpa, an increase from 144 bpa last year.

Though contest winners are selected based on yield, emphasis is also placed on the production of high-quality grain. The 26 national winners are required to submit a 10-pound sample that will be analyzed for milling and baking qualities. The soft wheat samples will be tested at the Wheat Marketing Center in Portland, Oregon; the hard wheat samples will be sent to the Great Plains Analytical Laboratory in Kansas City, Missouri. A panel of experts will rank the wheat samples by quality, and the winners will be announced in mid-January.

National winners are awarded a trip to the Commodity Classic, which will be held in March 2025 in Denver where they will be recognized at the NWF Winner's Reception on March 2, 2025.

Partnering sponsors for the 2024 National Wheat Yield Contest included WestBred, John Deere, U.S. Wheat Associates, BASF, Croplan, Eastman, Limagrain Cereal Seeds, The McGregor Companies, AgriMAXX, Ardent Mills, Bushel, Climate FieldView, Corteva, DynaGro, GrainSense, Kentucky Small Grain Growers Association, Mennel, North Carolina Small Grain Growers Association, Ohio Corn & Wheat, PlainsGold, Siemer Milling Company, UPL, UniSouth Genetics, Grain Craft, Kansas Wheat, Miller Milling, Michigan Wheat, Montana Grain Growers Association, Northern Crops Institute and North Dakota Mill & Elevator.

Visit www.dtnpf.com in the coming weeks for profiles of this year's "Bin Buster" award winners.

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2024 NATIONAL WINNERS

WINTER WHEAT DRYLAND CATEGORY WINNERS:

-- Bin Buster: Steve VanGrunsven

Forest Grove, Oregon

Variety: Limagrain Cereal Seeds Shine

Yield: 170.63 bpa

-- First Place: Jeffery Krohn

Owendale, Michigan

Variety: DF Seeds 271

Yield: 170.10 bpa

-- Second Place: Clint Zenner

Genesee, Idaho

Variety: Limagrain Cereal Seeds Shine

Yield: 167.03 bpa

-- Third Place: Garrett Warren

Dayton, Washington

Variety: Limagrain Cereal Seeds 50% Shine/50% Jefe

Yield: 164.68 bpa

-- Fourth Place: Scott Truszkowski

Stewartsville, New Jersey

Variety: Dyna-Gro 9070

Yield: 152.33 bpa

-- Fifth Place: Mark Deysher

Bath, Pennsylvania

Variety: Seedway SW65

Yield: 152.32 bpa

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WINTER WHEAT DRYLAND ABOVE COUNTY AVERAGE WINNERS:

-- First Place: David Ebers

Wellston, Oklahoma

Variety: WestBred WB4422

Yield: 136.42 bpa, 350.52% above Lincoln County, Oklahoma, average

-- Second Place: Koby Dickerson

Vernon, Texas

Variety: Limagrain Cereal Seeds Steel AX

Yield: 102.80 bpa, 305.69% above Wilbarger County, Texas, average

-- Third Place: Tom Hill

Tonkawa, Oklahoma

Variety: Limagrain Cereal Seeds Warbird AX

Yield: 135.64 bpa, 282.72% above Kay County, Oklahoma, average

-- Fourth Place: Dylan Lindsey

Lamont, Oklahoma

Variety: Limagrain Cereal Seeds Atomic AX

Yield: 130.05 bpa, 270.51% over Grant County, Oklahoma, average

-- Fifth Place: Cheryl Lindsey

Tonkawa, Oklahoma

Variety: PlainsGold Kivari AX

Yield: 130.32 bpa, 267.71% above Kay County, Oklahoma, average

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WINTER WHEAT IRRIGATED CATEGORY:

-- Bin Buster: Phillip Gross

Warden, Washington

Variety: Limagrain Cereal Seeds Jet

Yield: 223.08 bpa

-- First Place: Oree Reynolds

Castleford, Idaho

Variety: WestBred WB1621

Yield: 220.81 bpa

-- Second Place: Zach Balahtsis

Tonkawa, Oklahoma

Variety: Limagrain Cereal Seeds Warbird AX

Yield: 177.52 bpa

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SPRING WHEAT DRYLAND CATEGORY:

-- Bin Buster: Nick Pfaff

Bismarck, North Dakota

Variety: Croplan 3099A

Yield: 117.60 bpa

-- First Place: John Wesolowski

Warren, Minnesota

Variety: WestBred WB9590

Yield: 114.93 bpa

-- Second Place: Dale Flikkema

Bozeman, Montana

Variety: WestBred WB9668

Yield: 113.74 bpa

-- Third Place: Bruce & Helle Ruddenklau

Amity, Oregon

Variety: WestBred WB9668

Yield: 106.95 bpa

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SPRING WHEAT DRYLAND ABOVE COUNTY AVERAGE WINNERS:

-- First Place: Greg Messer

Richardton, North Dakota

Variety: WestBred WB9590

Yield: 106.65 bpa, 166.49% above Stark County, North Dakota, average

-- Second Place: Austin Kautzman

Mott, North Dakota

Variety: WestBred WB9590

Yield: 90.13 bpa, 147.01% above Grant County, North Dakota, average

-- Third Place: Jordan Christman

Hettinger, North Dakota

Variety: WestBred WB9590

Yield: 87.36 bpa, 137.40% above Adams County, North Dakota, average

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SPRING WHEAT IRRIGATED CATEGORY:

-- Bin Buster: Jess Blatchford

Baker City, Oregon

Variety: WestBred WB6341

Yield: 174.74 bpa

-- First Place: Dallin Wilcox

Rexburg, Idaho

Variety: WestBred WB7589

Yield: 169.94 bpa

-- Second Place: Joel Zwainz

Reardan, Washington

Variety: WSU Tekoa

Yield: 165.35 bpa

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PILOT DIGITAL YIELD - SPRING WHEAT DRYLAND

-- High Yield: Brad Disrud

Rolla, North Dakota

Variety: WestBred WB9590

Yield: 102.00 bpa

-- High Above County Yield: John Hofer

Milnor, North Dakota

Variety: WestBred WB9590

Yield: 98.00 bpa, 61.98% above Ranson County, North Dakota, average

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For more information on the yield contest and to view past winners, go to: https://www.wheatcontest.org/….

Jason Jenkins can be reached at jason.jenkins@dtn.com

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