Results
Greg W. Roth
Jayson K. Harper
This year’s Five Acre Com
Club results reveal some inter
esting figures about com pro
duction in Pennsylvania.
In general, the com club
reflected many of the reports of
the crop this year. Yields aver
aged a record 163 bushels per
acre over 121 entrants, but
moistures were higher than last
year.
Barren plant percentage was
down slightly from last year to
2.1 percent. The average plant
population reported was
23,600, also down slightly from
fast year. Approximately 15
percent of the growers culti-
COIN
Bring It Home
Get the yields you deserve for all the hard work that goes into raising a good corn crop, with the proven
performance advantage of Pioneer"® brand hybrids. Because all over the country, the facts show, once again,
those who planted our hybrids harvested more bushels per acre. So ask your Pioneer sales representative
about which hybrids will help bring out the Earning Power in your fields. And keep a good thing going.
XSSU
3525
3394
3293
3241
Comparative Relative Maturity (CRM)
With no industry standard for maturity ratings, comparing maturities between companies is usually difficult. Use this rating to compare Pioneer
hybrids with competitive hybrids of similar maturity and harvest moisture. These ratings are based on customer side-by-side and research
comparison experience. Individual company ratings may still show a variation from the average comparative rating.
Five-Acre Corn Club
A Few Thoughts
vated their com and about 40
percent side dressed their crop.
The average N rate including
manure, previous crop and fer
tilizer credits amounted to 191
pounds per acre, which is only
slightly above 177 pounds, the
recommended rate for the aver
age 161 bushel crop. Granular
insecticides were used on 71
percent of the com following
com, 31 percent of the com fol
lowing alfalfa, and 33 percent
of the com following soybeans.
About 13 percent of the
entrants no-tilled their crop and
the rest were almost evenly
split between minimum and
conventional tillage. For the
mm
106 CRM
The new performance leader in this maturity. 3525 is a widely adapted, stable,
high-yielding hybrid. Tall plant type, excellent for grain and silage. Late
flowering. Good ear flex and ear attachment.
111 CRM
Record setting yields and exceptional agronomics. This exciting hybrid
combines: impressive early growth, strong stalks and roots, exceptional stress
tolerance, above average drydown and lengthy staygreen. Widely adapted to
varying soil types, tillage methods and populations. Good grain appearance.
114 CRM
Similar to 3241 with more top-end yield potential. Exceptional early growth. This
hybrid features outstanding stalks, superior staygreen and drought tolerance.
Above average grain appearance and grain protein content.
114 CRM
Excellent early growth and resistance to several diseases make 3241 ideal for
conservation tillage. Grain growers will appreciate its outstanding stalks,
lengthy staygreen and reliable drought tolerance. Good grain appearance with
above average grain protein. Top silage producer.
PIONEER.
t U V BRAND-SEED CORN
PIONEER HI-BRED INTERNATIONAL, INC
All sales are subject to the terms of labeling and sale documents
® Registered trademark of Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc ,
Des Moines. lowa, USA © 1992, PHII
last two years, no-till entries
have been down somewhat. It is
unclear whether this reflects
less no-till com or just less no
till com that growers wanted to
enter in the program.
This year, the no-till entries
averaged 5 bushels higher than
minimum tillage entries and 15„
bushels higher than conven
tional entries.
Economic data revealed that
the average cost of producing
an acre of com, excluding land,
was about $212. Land costs are
extremely variable across the
state, but if one assumes a $5O
land charge, the total cost of
producing an acre of com
would be $262. At the average
price reported of $2.30/bushel,
the break even yield of com is
about 94 bushels without land
included and 115 bushels with
land included.
Corn Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 13,1993—Page
ElWi)
yyy Pennsylvania master corn growers assoc., inc.
Daryl Alger of Palmyra harvests his Five Acre Corn Club
plot In Lebanon County. This field yielded 203.4 bushels per
acre.
213
Some average costs
per acre reported
included seed, $24,
lime, $9, machinery
operating, $23, and
machinery owner
ship, $39. Growers in
southeastern Pennsyl-'
vania generally had
lowest costs per
bushel, because of
lower costs and high
er yields per acre.
No-till entries
reported the lowest
cost per bushel. This
was due to higher
yields this year, and
lower machinery
ownership and oper
ating costs. When
results were summar
ized over yield group
level, the highest
yield group had the
highest returns and
the lowest break even
price. Total costs did
not vary greatly
between yield groups.
Returns to land and
management were
also calculated for
different soil produc
tivity groups. Returns
were highest for class
I soils and $32 per
acre less for class II
soils. Class 111 soils
averaged even less in
returns, about $7B
less than class I.
The Five acre com
club is sponsored by
PMCGA, Penn Slate
Cooperative Exten
sion, and the many
seed com companies.
Entry in the com club
is open to all com
growers. Com club
programs are coordi
nated through local
cooperative extension
offices. For more
information, on parti
cipating in the club,
contact your county
extension agent.