A Madison farmer has one of the highest yields in the country.
Last month, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) announced the winners of the 2025 yield contest. In its 61st year, the contest saw nearly 7,800 entries from farmers in 47 states. Entries in the 10 categories had yields averaging 269 bushels per acre. The highest yield was David Hula in Charles City with 572.2589 bushels per acre in the strip-till irrigated category.
Local farmer Mike Coates of Coates Family Farms in Reva had the highest yield in the state in the no-till, non-irrigated class. Coates had a yield of 348.3312 bushels per acre of Dekalb hybrid corn. His yield earned him the second spot in the national no-till, non-irrigated category. Coates uses a Harvest International Planter with a John Deere Harvester. He used dry fertilizer, crop protectants and seed from Helena Agri-Enterprises.
“The yield contest is really about finding out what this crop is capable of,” Ohio grower and NCGA President Jed Bower said. “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 30 national and 567 state winners will be honored at the commodity classic in San Antonio, TX Feb. 25-27.
