In the News - July 2009
Farmers can win a bushel of money in soybean yield contest
LITTLE ROCK - The Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board is trying to put $50,000
into the pocket of an Arkansas farmer, and all he or she has to do is be the
first farmer to achieve a yield of 100 bushels of soybeans per acre.
The Race for 100 yield contest is funded by the Arkansas Soybean Promotion
Board.
The contest is funded by the promotion board and is administered by the
Arkansas Soybean Association (ASA) and the University of Arkansas Division of
Agriculture.
Contestants are urged to turn in their entry forms before the Aug. 1
deadline. If more than one farmer reaches 100 or more bushels per acre, the
prize will be split among the winners. The harvested area of 5-7 acres must have
been planted in soybeans in at least one of the last three production years
prior to 2009, and the contestant must have paid the appropriate check-off
assessments on soybeans.
"This goal is very achievable," said Gary Sitzer, Race for 100 committee
chairman. "Recent record yields in Arkansas of 94 bushels per acre have shown
producers the yields soybeans are capable of producing."
In addition to seeing if it can be done, the soybean industry leadership
wants to know what it takes to accomplish the feat from a management standpoint.
Production information will be shared with other producers at grower meetings
following the award presentation at the Arkansas Soybean Association’s annual
meeting in January.
Dr. Jeremy Ross, extension soybean specialist with the U of A Division of
Agriculture, said county extension agents will verify yields for the contest. He
believes the contest goal of producing 100 bushels is possible.
"If we have an exceptional summer with some of the ground we have in the
state, it’s doable," he said. "But everything has to be just right for it to
happen. Contestants have to be exceptional farmers and have good land to coax
another 15 or 20 bushels out of their crop."
Producers may also enter the ARSA Yield Challenge sponsored by Cullum Seed
and BASF.
Entry forms and additional details about the contests can be obtained from
local county extension offices and the Arkansas Soybean Association at (800)
247-8691 or swsoy@aristotle.net. The entry form is also available online at
www.arspb.org.
Soybean check-off funds will be used in the Race for 100 Yield Contest.
July 2, 2009
By the Arkansas Soybean Association
and University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Media Contacts:
ASA Media Contact: Dawn Howe
(501) 501-666-1418
swsoy@aristotle.net
Extension Media Contact: Elizabeth Fortune
Extension Communications Specialist
U of A Division of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service
(501) 671-2120
efortune@uaex.edu
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