Jump Start Spring Wheat       11/13 12:34

   National Wheat Yield Contest Highlights 204.83 bpa Spring Wheat

   Planting spring wheat in the fall gave Friehe Farms a jump start that pushed 
yields to 204.83 bpa in 2025.

Pamela Smith
Crops Technology Editor

   Talk about the early bird getting the worm. Washington farmer Derek Friehe 
gets a head start on the spring wheat season by planting some of his crop in 
the fall. It's a move that he credits with catapulting him to the top of the 
2025 National Wheat Yield Contest irrigated spring wheat category with an entry 
of 204.83 bushels per acre (bpa).

   Now in its 10th year, the yield contest organized by the National Wheat 
Foundation (NWF) has encouraged wheat growers to strive for exceptional yields, 
high quality and stronger profitability while trying new and innovative 
management strategies that drive productivity and marketability. 
DTN/Progressive Farmer is the official media outlet of the competition.

   The AgriPro AP Venom hard red spring wheat was planted Oct. 8, 2024. It 
takes a special kind of hardiness for a spring variety to withstand winter 
conditions, noted Friehe. In fact, taking that risk doesn't always pan out. For 
example, the Washington farmer planted spring wheat in the fall the previous 
season, but a January warm-up got the crop excited only to be killed out by a 
single-digit cold snap that followed.

   "It's a gamble. You either hit a home run, or you strike out," Friehe said. 
"But we have enough experience with the practice now to say that yield is 
better when it does work. The same AP Venom variety planted as a spring crop 
using the same agronomic practices yielded on average 20 bpa to 40 bpa less 
this year.

   "Planting in the fall gives the crop a longer time to tiller and grow. 
Fall-planted fields are green, growing and tillering before the spring crop has 
even emerged. It also allows the crop to pollinate earlier and avoid some heat 
events," he said, adding that harvest on the fall-planted crop runs about one 
week earlier than the spring crop.

   Friehe has been in the winner circle before. In 2022, he took the irrigated 
spring wheat category with a 195.4 bpa entry of AP Venom planted in the fall. 
He also earned the Bin Buster title in the 2020 irrigated winter wheat category 
with a yield of 206.7 bpa of Limagrain Cereal Seeds Jet.

   He credits Friehe Farms Agronomy Manager Heath Gimmestad for helping to 
fine-tune management to keep the crop happy. It was also a stellar weather 
year, and because the crop is irrigated, it never thirsted -- receiving about 
18 inches of water in-season to supplement seasonal rainfall totals that are 
lucky to reach 8 inches a year.

   "Overall, this is the best wheat crop we've ever had. Our contest entry 
wasn't even our best field," he said. "The first field we opened was just a 
little bit better, but we'd slated this one for the contest. In all, we had 
four or five fields that averaged in the 190 (bpa) range, and they were all 
fall planted."

   Friehe is anxious to see where protein levels land and acknowledges that it 
can take additional nitrogen to get a protein bump when yielding at these 
levels. This year's fertility program included 25 pounds of sulfur and 83 
pounds of nitrogen per acre in the fall. Another 65 pounds of nitrogen was 
applied prior to jointing and 91 pounds before leaf extension. Tissue testing 
at flag leaf helps fine-tune the fertility program.

   The winning entry was planted at 85 pounds per acre and followed potatoes in 
the rotation.

   "The fields that get planted in the fall are dictated by what potatoes are 
harvested early enough to allow us to get fertilizer on and the ground prepped. 
We like to plant in the early-to-mid-October window to allow the wheat to get 
some growth, but not too much," he said.

   The farm also grows Kentucky bluegrass, which is planted in August. 
Fall-planted wheat or green peas are crops that thread the rotational needle 
and fit nicely between potatoes and bluegrass in the rotation, he noted.

   Friehe has few complaints about weeds or pests this year, although aphids 
are always on his radar. Lodging, however, hit a little harder this year, 
despite the use of a plant growth regulator (PGR) to control plant height. The 
growth hormone shortens plant internodes and increases the size and stiffness 
of the stem.

   "We missed getting it on a few acres, but even where we used a PGR, we had 
more lodging than we've seen for a long time. Maybe it was because the heads 
were so heavy," he said.

   Entering the National Wheat Yield Contest is a litmus test that keeps Friehe 
trying new things.

   "There aren't very many opportunities to really see where you stand or 
compare how we are doing," he said. "The contest is not hard to enter. It's 
fun, and it's an opportunity to showcase our farm, our growing region and that 
fact that we have done well in it gives us confidence about our growing 
practices," he said.

   A 200-plus bushel wheat crop requires some added patience though. "We 
couldn't harvest much faster than 1.2 miles per hour," he said. "It makes for 
some long days, but the hopper fills fast."

   2025 National Spring Wheat Irrigated Category:

   Bin Buster: Derek Friehe

   Moses Lake, Washington

   Variety: AgriPro AP Venom

   Yield: 204.83 bpa

   First Place: Dallin Wilcox

   Rexburg, Idaho

   Variety: WestBred WB7589

   Yield: 190.10 bpa

   Second Place: Jess Blatchford

   Baker City, Oregon

   Variety: WestBred WB6430

   Yield: 168.89 bpa

   Read DTN's story compiling all of the category winners here: 
https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/crops/article/2025/11/13/idaho-farmer-t
ops-2025-national-228.

   Pamela Smith can be reached at pamela.smith@dtn.com

   Follow her on social media platform X @PamSmithDTN




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