Yield contests are nothing new for Mercer, Mo., strip-tiller Galt Porter, whose dad Gary started pushing the envelope with contest plots over 30 years ago.

Gary won a few contests in the 1990s and early 2000s but got busy with coaching the kids in baseball and participating in tractor pulls. Galt and his brothers, Gage and Grey, picked up the torch and started competing in high-yield contests a few years ago. They bought a plot together on the Iowa-Missouri border for such events.

Grey took the high-yielding entry 2 years ago and ended up winning the state corn yield championship, but it was Galt’s turn in 2024. He won more than just bragging rights when his 405-bushel yield captured the 2024 NCGA Yield Contest national title in the strip-till, non-irrigated class. It’s the first time anyone in the family has broken the 400-bushel barrier.  

“It means a lot to see all those soil samples and long hours pay off,” Galt says. “It’s gratifying to see that hard work and dedication can get you somewhere.”

Strip-Till & Starter. Strip-till was a key component of Galt’s award-winning formula. His family started strip-tilling 5 years ago with some help from their local co-op, Premier Ag.

“They had a few strip-till bars available, but couldn’t talk anyone into using them,” Galt recalls. “At the time, we were looking for different ways to apply our nitrogen and we also have a lot of HEL (highly erodible land) ground that we couldn’t manage the way we wanted. Strip-till made sense. It allowed us to band nutrients 6-8 inches below the plants and it also worked very well on the HEL ground.”

The journey to 400 bushels began with a fall application of Holganix Bio 800+ and Holganix Bio 800+ Breakdown, a product that helps break down crop residue and charge the soil with over 800 species of soil microbes, nitrogen (N) and microbe food. The plot was also pattern tiled in the fall to ensure it would be dry enough for the strip-till rig in early spring.

Galt made strips 6-8 inches deep with the co-op’s LandLuvr toolbar in March and applied about 200 pounds of N, 100 pounds of phosphorus (P) and 100 pounds of potassium (K). The strip-till pass was followed by a “weed and feed” herbicide pass with his sprayer about a week later.

“The weed and feed pass contained about 25 pounds of liquid N,” Galt says. “We’ve noticed with spring strip-till, it takes a little bit of time for the plant to find the nutrients in the strip and green up. There’s a yellowish stage in there sometimes. This pass bridged the gap and gave the roots some extra fuel to help the plant jump out of the ground and take off.”

Galt planted the Pioneer P1742Q hybrid in 30-inch rows with a plant population just under 40,000 in early April. He applied a starter fertilizer mix consisting of 3-18-18 and a “slew” of Biovante biological products.

No Bad Days. Mother Nature provided an assist with timely rains throughout the growing season. 

“It was the best weather we ever had for a plot year,” Galt says. “The timing of the rainfall was perfect. Early on, we had a bit of a wet spell, but the pattern tile dried everything out and kept the plants happy.”

The marathon from planting to harvest included multiple soil and tissue samples along the way and Y-drop applications of about 60 pounds of N, 10 pounds of sulfur, boron and other micronutrients in June.

“We also made several fungicide and insecticide passes to make sure the corn never had a bad day,” Galt says. “We made 3 fungicide passes with 21-day residuals.”

Galt harvested the corn at about 27% moisture with his John Deere 780 combine. The harvest population was around 38,000 plants per acre.

“Dad was with us when we were combining and he said he’s never seen anything like it,” Galt says. “He knew it was going to be a good number, but when we got the final number of over 400 bushels, he was blown away.”

Porter plans to incorporate early N applications and spring strip-till on more acres after seeing the impact they had on the championship plot.

“The biggest thing that we’ll incorporate into the whole farm is the addition of that early nitrogen source,” Galt says. “It bridges the gap when everything is stagnant and gives the roots that extra boost. We’ve also increased our strip-till acreage by 500 acres. We like the emergence with strip-till — we get nearly every kernel out of the ground it seems like.

“This year, we have 2 more plots in 2 different locations,” he adds. “Grey and I are working on a few things and hopefully we’ll have our names back up there again this year.”