Michigan Wheat Yield Contest

If your wheat is looking good this spring and you want to put it to the test, enter the Michigan Wheat Yield Contest where we’re looking to recognize the outstanding “wheat warriors” in the Great Lakes State.

The Michigan Wheat Program launched its own contest, modeled on the National Wheat Yield Contest sponsored by the National Wheat Foundation (NWF).

We know Michigan wheat farmers produce well above the national average of 49 bushels per acre, most notably in 2016 when farmers and weather conspired to an average 89 bushels per acre yield!

What we don’t know, is who grew it best in Michigan and what they did to achieve those yields.

The Michigan Yield Contest offers Michigan growers an opportunity to compete against one another, as a way to inspire creative thinking to solve production challenges in Michigan. Winners will be chosen as a straight-up highest per bushel yield in irrigated and dryland wheat.

Updated Rules and Procedures for 2025 Michigan Wheat Yield Contest

Changes for 2025 were made by the Michigan Wheat Program Board of Directors. They include narrowing the categories to irrigated and non-irrigated without breaking out red and white wheat and several other changes detailed below.

Entries through the National Wheat Foundation and also Michigan growers participating in the Great Lakes Yield Enhancement Network will both be in the running for the Michigan Yield Contest. There will be one highest overall yield winner for the state and a winner in irrigated and non-irrigated. Those three winners will earn a trip to the 2026 Great Lakes Crop Summit held in January at Soaring Eagle.

Purpose

The purpose of the MI Wheat Yield Contest is to promote and encourage wheat growers to seek ways to increase wheat yields in Michigan.  This program follows the goals set forth in the National Wheat Yield Contest but will be administered locally at the state level and was updated in early 2025 to better fit the state’s needs.

Rules

1. The entry process, reporting and data collection will be conducted via the National Wheat Yield Contest system with online entry forms and data submission.
2. When you enter the national contest, you are automatically entered in the Michigan contest.
3. All national rules and deadlines including entry and harvest rules as well as grain quality sample submission must be followed. National rules are attached as Appendix A.
4. There will be no additional cost to enter the Michigan contest. National contest fees are $100 per entry.  All fees are collected using the online system developed by the national program.
5. In Michigan, there will be two categories which are: Dryland and irrigated wheat.
6. All data reporting requirements for the national contest must be followed for agronomic and yield data.
7. Michigan growers participating in the Great Lakes Yield Enhancement Network will also automatically be entered into the Michigan Wheat Yield Contest.
8. Winners for the Michigan contest will be determined by their bushel per acre yield – NOT by percent of county average as winners are selected for the National Wheat Yield Contest and not by percentage of yield potential as winners are selected for the Great Lakes YEN contest. Michigan will recognize an overall winner and the top grower in each category, for a total of three winners.
9. The three winners will each:
   1. receive a trip to the Great Lakes Crop Summit for themselves and their spouses;
   2. be recognized at the annual Michigan Wheat Program Annual Meeting; and
   3. receive a plaque.

How to Enter

To make contest entry easy, Michigan has partnered with the NWF to utilize their contest registration form and entry process. Michigan farmers’ data will be used by the Michigan Wheat Program to determine the home-state winners.

If you are a Michigan wheat farmer, you pay into the Michigan Wheat Program check-off so you do not have to pay National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) dues. Since the Michigan Wheat Program is a member of NAWG, your NAWG membership is waived.

To sign up for the Michigan contest and the National Wheat Yield Contest (they go together), visit the NAWG website at yieldcontest.wheatfoundation.org.  The $100 entry fee is due May 15^th each year. This is the final deadline for winter wheat.

Usually, the entry fee will be covered by ag business. National sponsors of the contest that also cover registration fees are: Bayer/WestBred, BASF and Corteva/Pioneer.

If you are utilizing one of these companies, complete your registration form but DO NOT PAY. The registration fees will be covered after the rest of your registration is submitted.