DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- David Hula's corn yield contest winning streak continues. The Charles City, Virginia, farmer produced 572.2589 bushels per acre (bpa) to top the 2025 National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Yield Contest. It is the 14th national high yield win in the contest for Hula, and he said it came with some important production insights.

"If I could point to any one thing about this 2025 season, it is that it handed us a lesson on the importance of finishing strong," Hula told DTN. His winning entry in the irrigated strip-till category came with Pioneer P18216PWE, a 118-day hybrid.

Sponsored annually by the National Corn Growers Association for the past 61 years, the 2025 contest produced first place national winners in nine production categories from six different states. The contest also features a special nitrogen management category. Overall, NCGA announced the yield contest saw nearly 7,800 entries from farmers in 47 states. The combined categories had verified yields averaging 269 bpa.

Hula's entry was the only one to exceed 500 bpa in 2025. He also is the only farmer to exceed 600 bpa in the national contest and has done it three times (2019, 2021 and 2023).

"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."

Four first-place national winners surpassed the 400 bpa mark, and another four binned more than 300 bpa. The 10 national winners yield average was 410.017 bpa.

The second-highest yield in the 2025 contest and the highest non-irrigated entry was a 425.7728 bpa conventional entry from Kevin Kalb of Dubois, Indiana. Kalb Farms landed two additional first-place national entries in categories specific to the Corn Belt states. Rhylan Kalb produced 425.3257 bpa in the no-till non-irrigated category. Kogen Kalb recorded a first-place win in the non-irrigated strip till category with 399.4384 bpa.

Robert Santini of Bloomsbury, New Jersey, was the non-irrigated no-till category winner with a 383.5325 bpa entry.

A Sweetwater, Tennessee, farm family claimed two non-irrigated category wins. Josh Watson took the conventional non-irrigated (southern states) category with 387.6074 bpa. Jabe Watson's 349.0543 bpa entry won the non-irrigated strip-till, minimum till, mulch-till, ridge-till class.

Alex Harrell of Leesburg, Georgia, won the conventional irrigated category with 416.8270 bpa. Corder Hobbs of Elkmont, Alabama, claimed the no-till irrigated category with 402.3345 bpa.

The category that looks at nitrogen management and efficiency was won by Brett Rosedale of Albion, Iowa. He recorded a yield of 348.0185 bpa from an entry where the total amount of nitrogen supplied by synthetic and biological sources was limited to a predetermined rate of 180 lbs.

HULA'S YIELD HOOPS

The educational component of learning about corn and teaching others how to make it yield has never grown old for David Hula.

"Every year teaches us something," he said. "This was the year of the finish. We learned just how important it is to keep those hybrids protected to extend grain fill."

The winning Pioneer hybrid was new to his farm's lineup this year. Featuring PowerCore/Enlist technology, Hula said the hybrid exhibited strong stalks, a good root system and great plant health. It was planted May 3 in 30-inch rows and had a final harvest population of 50,700 plants per acre.

"Plant health and stay green were remarkable, and it resulted in an impressive 66-plus (pound) test weight," he recalled of this hybrid.

"It all goes to the corn factory pumping nutrients into the plant for as long as possible, including applications at and past milk line drop," he added.

Hula has always maintained that there is no secret sauce to raising monster yields. What is different about his management is the extraordinary attention he pays to the corn plant and the signals it sends.

It starts by using SoDak Labs Inc. to obtain seed germination and quality scores. Then, he flags corn seedlings as they spike. Think of it like an Olympic hurdling event. Hula sizes up the potential of his corn athlete ahead of the race. He records how fast each plant comes off the line and from there, he makes calculated decisions about tending to that plant as seasonal hurdles are cleared.

"Surprisingly, all our corn acreage is planted with the same nutrients. We're using a proven in-furrow starter and seed treatment program to give our seed every advantage," Hula explained. "The first time we can separate whether a field is worth pushing further occurs when it spikes out of the ground. And we had very good emergence this year."

The next hurdle is around 325 to 350 growing degree units (GDU) when tissue samples are pulled.

"That's when we know if a field has potential or is just regular corn," he said. "In this particular field, the indicating nutrients scored high while others were not extremely high, but they were well balanced." The field hit a short dry period just prior to pollination, which was addressed with irrigation. The crop received about 8 inches (per acre) during vegetative growth stages and another 4 inches during the corn's reproductive stage.

Season-long disease management is part of Hula's protocols. He takes advantage of the wider application window offered with Veltyma fungicide -- applying as early as V10 and as late as R3.

"We've identified some attributes in this fungicide system that we believe help block ethylene and contribute to the plant staying green longer," Hula said. Biologicals, including acids and plant growth-promoting compounds, are used to enhance vigor, root development and nutrient uptake. He also uses foliar treatments including nitrogen, phosphorus, zinc, iron, molybdenum and magnesium to extend the crop. The 572-bpa entry received a diet of both commercial fertilizers and chicken litter.

"When people see us harvesting corn, they think it looks like we should be chopping silage," Hula said. In fact, P18216PWE requires approximately 2,860 GDUs to reach black layer (maturity).

"Based on our observations, we lengthened the time to reach black layer by another 120 to 150 GDUs. That allowed kernels to put on more test weight," Hula said.

"A lot of corn country struggled with late-season disease this year. I understand farmers were reluctant to put much more into their crop; but we're really looking now at how to manage the crop finish. There are times when late-season treatments truly pay," he noted.

Supplemental ears are not uncommon in high yield fields, but Hula was surprised to find a number of "bouquet ears" -- multiple ears developing on a single ear shank -- in the winning field.

"We had them make significant kernels which contributed to yield this year. That's something I've never observed before," he said.

For Hula, it's all about setting up expectations and trying to meet goals, but that doesn't mean every field is going to win a gold medal.

"As one may expect there is great excitement when harvesting the high yielding fields, but we also had satisfaction when harvesting some fields with 200-bushel corn on a tougher piece of sandy ground. We pushed it to do what it could while keeping an eye on what inputs will provide an economic return," he said.

Weather remains the biggest limiting factor for making corn yield, he said. But he does have one thing on his corn Christmas list.

"If I were to put a focus on things moving forward it would include strategies to repeatedly maintain a clean crown root. Once that is accomplished, then it would check a box that is not only limiting for high yield, but will also improve our average production," Hula said.

Hula said the best part of about the NCGA contest is talking about his favorite crop with other farmers.

"As long as God blesses me with the ability to learn and share with others, I'll keep on pushing the envelope," he said.

The 30 national and 567 state winners will be honored by NCGA at Commodity Classic (https://commodityclassic.com/…)in San Antonio, Texas, Feb. 25-27, 2026.

A complete list of the 2025 national and state Yield Contest winners can be found at https://ncga.com/….

2025 NCGA Corn Yield Contest First Place Winners:

-- Conventional Non-Irrigated

Josh Watson, 387.6074 bpa, Sweetwater, Tennessee

-- Conventional Non-Irrigated (Corn Belt states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin)

Kevin Kalb, 425.7728 bpa, Dubois, Indiana

-- No-till Non-Irrigated

Robert Santini, 383.5325 bpa, Bloomsbury, New Jersey

-- No-till Non-Irrigated (Corn Belt states)

Rhylan Kalb, 425.3257 bpa, Dubois, Indiana

-- Strip-till Non-Irrigated (includes Minimum-till, Mulch-till, Ridge-till)

Jabe Watson, 349.0543 bpa, Sweetwater, Tennessee

-- Strip-till Non-Irrigated (Corn Belt states)

Kogen Kalb, 389.4384 bpa, Dubois, Indiana

-- No-till Irrigated

Corder Hobbs, 402.3345 bpa, Elkmont, Alabama

-- Strip-till Irrigated (includes Minimum-till, Mulch-till, Ridge-till)

David Hula, 572.2589 bpa, Charles City, Virginia

-- Conventional Irrigated

Alex Harrell, 416.8270 bpa, Leesburg, Georgia

-- Nitrogen Management

Brett Rosedale 348.0185 bpa, Albion, Iowa

Pamela Smith can be reached at pamela.smith@dtn.com

Follow her on social media platform X @PamSmithDTN

(c) Copyright 2025 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.