GFO Soybean Yield Challenge: Congratulations to the top prize winners George Ennis and Jon Bakker

Congratulation goes out to all the winners!

The top soybean yields were George Ennis at 80.2 bushels per acre and Jon Bakker at 74 bushels per acre.

WINTER WHEAT YIELD CHALLENGE AND SOYBEAN YIELD CHALLENGE RESULTS
Top Yields Revealed at Banquet Today in Ingersoll
GUELPH, ON (December 8, 2011) – Top yielding Ontario farmers were rewarded today at a banquet in Ingersoll. The event was the culmination of two contests: the Winter Wheat Yield Challenge and the Soybean Yield Challenge. Entrants submitted their best fields to compete against their peers and those with the highest yields were rewarded with great prizes.

This was the first year of the Winter Wheat Challenge and the winners definitely eserve their prizes.
 First Place, winning $1500: Lloyd Crowe of Picton, 150 bushels/acre with 25R56
 Second Place, winning $750: Zilke Farms of Woodstock, 140.8 bushels/acre with 25R39

The Soybean Yield Challenge was separated into two divisions: an IP division sponsored by DuPont and a non-IP division brought to you by Genuity. Within each division, entrants were separated into three zones based on crop heat units.

Zone 1 (2700 CHU and under)

Non-IP Division 

1st Place Ronald Rody, Moorefield, Dekalb 26-11RY, 57.8 bushels /acre

IP Division
1st Place Jon Bakker, Frankford, S05-T6, 74.0 bushels /acre
2nd Place Schouten Corner View Farms, Richmond, S03-W4, 73.7 bushels /acre

Zone 2 (2725 to 3000 CHU)
Non-IP Division
1st Place George Ennis, Winchester, Titanium, 80.2 bushels /acre
2nd Place R&J Fraser Farms Ltd, Ottawa, 91Y90, 68.5 bushels /acre
IP Division
1st Place Ceresmore Farms, Bowmanville, Colby, 69.7 bushels /acre
2nd Place Justin Dorland, Brighton, 91M01, 64.1 bushels /acre

Zone 3 (3025 CHU and above)
Non-IP division
1st Place Simard Bros Inc., Oldcastle, 92Y80, 72.9 bushels /acre
2nd Place Robert Devolder, Dover Centre, 32-60RY, 67.9 bushels /acre

The two Grand Prize winners: George Ennis and Jon Bakker, each received a trip for two to the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky! All winners and runners up received admission to Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show and a local farm show of their choice. Winners in each division and each zone went home with a cash prize of $10 x their yield in bushels.

Grain Farmers of Ontario
100 Stone Road West, Suite 201 Guelph, ON N1G 5L3
Tel: 1-800-265-0550 www.gfo.ca

The production challenges would not be possible without the generous support of sponsors. The Winter Wheat Challenge was sponsored by Bayer CropScience, Hyland Seeds and C&M Seeds. For the Soybean Yield Challenge, the prizes for the IP division were provided by DuPont, the prizes for the non-IP division were sponsored by Genuity and the banquet received generous assistance from Pioneer Hi-Bred Ltd. Also providing support for the soybean challenge at the Gold Sponsorship level
were Dekalb, Hyland Seeds, Maizex, Mycogen and NK Seeds and at the silver level were Country Farm Seeds and SeCan.

Grain Farmers of Ontario
Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) is the province’s newest and largest commodity organization, representing Ontario’s 28,000 corn, soybean and wheat farmers. The crops they grow cover 5 million acres of farm land across the province, generate over $2.5 billion in farm gate receipts, result in over $9 billion in economic output
and are responsible for over 40,000 jobs in the province.

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Contact:
Meghan Burke, Communications – 519 767-2773, mburke@gfo.ca
Erin Fletcher, Communications – 519 767-4137; efletcher@gfo.ca