Missouri soybean farmer breaks own world record
by Andy Phipps, posted Dec. 4, 2007
A Missouri farmer has broken the world record for a soybean harvest for the second time in a row. Kip Cullers of Purdy, Mo., broke the world record last year when he harvested 139.39 bushels per acre from an experimental plot. This year, Cullers smashed his own record, harvesting 154.7 bushels of soybeans per acre from the same plot on a farm he manages near Stark City, Mo.
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Kip Cullers, standing at podium, is honored by the Missouri Soybean Association and Gov. Matt Blunt at a press conference Nov. 13 2007. |
On Nov. 13, 2007, the Missouri Soybean Association recognized Cullers and Gov. Matt Blunt presented him with an official proclamation honoring his achievement during a press conference held at the soybean association’s headquarters in Jefferson City, Mo.
“He is the Babe Ruth, perhaps, of soybean growers,” Blunt said. “Success like that is not an accident, it’s obviously not luck. Kip is setting records because he knows his business as well as anyone.”
Cullers’ high yields are indeed far from accidental.
“We just try new things every year, try to see if we can push the bar a little higher,” Cullers said.
Among those trials would be the use of Pioneer’s variety 94M80 high yield seeds, BASF Headline fungicide, a custom twin-row planter built by Monosem and diverse management strategies in the field.
“[Pioneer and BASF] have this wide barrage of scientists that I call on regularly,” Cullers said. “I’m not scared to ask questions. We’re always trying something new, always trying to think outside the box and trying to figure out how to push the yield level to the next step.”
The potential of his hard work was recognizable early on.
“I did have the chance to be in the field a number of times with Kip and looked at these soybeans through the season,” said Greg Luce, a technical representative for Pioneer. “And it didn’t take very long to tell it was going to be special and it was going to have the ability to be better than it was a year ago.”
Luce, who spoke at the conference, cited Cullers’ curiosity and motivation.
“Here is somebody who has achieved something that nobody else has done, and he’s asking, ‘How do I get higher?’ And that’s something that speaks a lot for Kip’s goals,” Luce said.
As for next year, Cullers anticipates that his yields will not match this year’s record-breaking crop.
“One thing we’re going to do next year is probably mess up our yield content,” Cullers said. “We’re probably taking our yields as high as we can on our current system.”
But considering his track record, the expectations for Cullers’ crop next year were still great.
“I’m anxious to see what we’ll be celebrating next year,” Blunt said. “170 bushels?”
The remark drew a wave of chuckles from the crowd.
“We’re going to have to go back and rethink totally the way that we’re doing this to take us to 200 or 250 bushels,” Cullers said. “But it’ll take us three or four years of messing up before we figure it out.”
