ST. LOUIS — Product portfolio diversity and high-end performance potential were on display in the 2024 National Wheat Yield Contest (NWYC), where WestBred® Wheat brand varieties helped growers win a Bin Buster and multiple first place awards across categories.
Across all five categories, 12 of the 26 national winners in the 2024 NWYC planted WestBred Wheat varieties. Seven varieties made up these 12 wins. WB9590, a hard red spring, continued to perform in the NWYC with five wins. WB9668 had two national wins and WB9606 had one, showcasing the strength of the WestBred hard red spring portfolio of varieties.
Growers also won nationally with varieties WB4422, a hard red winter; WB1621, a soft white winter; WB6341, a soft white spring; and WB7589, a hard white spring.
“WestBred Wheat congratulates all of the outstanding growers who placed in the 2024 NWYC,” said Carrie Roach, WestBred Wheat marketing manager. “Once again, the contest shows top-performing WestBred varieties planted by top-performing growers in diverse yield environments are a recipe for success. Region to region, year to year, WestBred Wheat varieties show their potential in the NWYC.”
WestBred Wheat varieties won first, second or third place in 14 of the 15 states in which the brand is sold for planting. In nine of those states, growers planting WestBred Wheat varieties won first place for highest yield. Across all categories at the state level, a total of 35 winning growers planted WestBred Wheat.
Entrants were judged in two primary categories: spring wheat and winter wheat, broken into subcategories of dryland and irrigated. Awards were also given for percent increases over county averages in the dryland subcategories.
The 2024 NWYC WestBred national winners:
Spring Wheat — Irrigated
- Bin Buster Winner — Jess Blatchford, Baker City, Oregon, with a yield of 174.74 Bu/A with WB6341 soft white spring variety.
- First Place — Dallin Wilcox, Rexburg, Idaho, with a yield of 169.94 Bu/A with WB7589 hard white spring variety.
Spring Wheat — Dryland
- First Place — John Wesolowski, Warren, Minnesota, with a yield of 114.93 Bu/A with WB9590 hard red spring variety.
- Second Place — Dale Flikkema, Bozeman, Montana, with a yield of 113.74 Bu/A with WB9668 hard red spring variety.
- Third Place — Bruce and Helle Ruddenklau, Amity, Oregon, with a yield of 106.95 Bu/A with WB9668 hard red spring variety.
- First Place, Percentage Increase — Greg Messer, Richardton, North Dakota, with a 166.49% increase over the county average with WB9590 variety. Final yield: 106.65 Bu/A (County Average: 40.02 Bu/A).
- Second Place, Percentage Increase — Austin Kautzman, Mott, North Dakota, with a 147.01% increase over county average with WB9606 variety. Final yield: 90.13 Bu/A (County Average: 36.49 Bu/A).
- Third Place, Percentage Increase — Jordan Christman, Hettinger, North Dakota, with a 137.40% increase over county average with WB9590 variety. Final yield: 87.36 Bu/A (County Average: 36.80 Bu/A).
Winter Wheat — Irrigated
- First Place — Oree Reynolds, Castleford, Idaho, with a yield of 220.81 Bu/A with WB1621 soft white winter variety.
Winter Wheat — Dryland
- First Place, Percent Increase — David Ebers, Wellston, Oklahoma, with a 350.52% increase over county average with WB4422 variety. Final yield: 136.42 Bu/A (County Average: 30.28 Bu/A).
Pilot Digital Yield — Spring Dryland
- High Yield — Brad Disrud, Rolla, North Dakota, with a yield of 102 Bu/A with WB9590 variety.
- High % Over County — John Hofer, Milnor, North Dakota, with a 61.98% increase over the county average with WB9590 variety. Final yield: 98 Bu/A (County Average: 60.5 Bu/A).
“Congratulations are also in order to the WestBred Wheat seed suppliers, who are so instrumental in understanding what WestBred varieties have to offer and helping growers select and place the right variety for an opportunity to win in the NWYC,” said Roach. “The NWYC is a great place to start looking for what varieties to plant and to learn best management practices for growing wheat. WestBred Wheat is focused on continuing to provide solid genetics and agronomic traits to fit growers’ needs in their region.”
Looking Forward to the 2025 NWYC
WestBred Wheat is a proud annual sponsor of the National Wheat Yield Contest, which helps illustrate the importance of variety selection and input management in wheat to achieve outstanding performance and demonstrates the innovative agronomics and productivity of U.S. wheat growers. We encourage farmers interested in competing in the 2025 contest to contact their WestBred seed supplier or local WestBred representative. Additional information can be found at WestBred.com. Official rules and entry deadlines will be available in January 2025.
About WestBred
WestBred Wheat provides seed suppliers and their growers access to a high-yield potential wheat seed as well as testing, education, resources and experienced representatives to help maximize their yield potential.
