Georgia's top soybean producers recognized in high yields contest

By: Clint Thompson for CAES News

Georgia’s top soybean producers were honored for producing high yields during the 2018 growing season at the Georgia-Florida Soybean/Small Grain Expo in Perry, Georgia, on Jan. 15.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension sponsors the Georgia Soybean Production Contest every year to emphasize production practices that are consistent with efficient and profitable soybean production, to recognize those farmers who produce high yields and to accumulate data on the practices used by those outstanding producers.

“This year’s winner, Randy Dowdy, is well known to the contest. He produced a world-record yield in this contest in 2016. He wasn’t able to surpass that this year, but he still produced an amazing 156 bushels per acre,” said Mark Freeman, UGA Extension’s east Georgia agronomist.

In the irrigated category, this year’s winners include:

1. Randy Dowdy, Lowndes County, 156.84 bushels per acre

2. Mark Ariail, Franklin County, 91.68 bushels per acre

3. Clayton Bloodworth, Wilcox County, 91.63 bushels per acre

In the dryland category, this year’s winners include:

1. Russ and Dennis Moon, Madison County, 94.8 bushels per acre

2. Nick McMichen, Floyd County, 94.1 bushels per acre

To be eligible, producers have to grow a minimum of two acres. The harvest and yields are verified by county Extension agents who submit the data to Freeman.

In 2016, Dowdy produced a world-record 171.8 bushels per acre, 10 bushels more than the previous record holder.

Freeman estimates that approximately 200,000 soybean acres were produced in 2018. To learn more about soybean production in Georgia, see gasoybeans.caes.uga.edu/.

Clint Thompson is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences based in Tifton.