Phillip Gross, with the Warden Hutterian brethren in Washington state, is back on top of the national wheat yield contest for his fourth time.

Gross came in first this year with a yield of 223.08 bushels per acre using the Limagrain Cereal Seeds hard red winter wheat Jet in the irrigated winter wheat category.

He previously won the contest in 2016, 2017 and 2018. In those years, his yields were 192.85, 184.29 and 202.5 bushels per acre.

The contest record yield is 231 bushels per acre.

“It was actually a really phenomenal wheat year,” Gross told the Capital Press. “Awesome head-fill and flowering weather, really cool. The good guy upstairs taking care of the weather — that’s a humongous part of creating a crop that’s bountiful.”

Initially, the crop didn’t look like it would be a big yielder, he said.

“Once we hit the fields with the combines, the numbers started growing in at 185, 190, 195 bushel averages across 130-acre fields,” he said. “Then we knew it was going to be an awesome crop.”

Price was a different story. Soft white wheat ranges from $5.95 to $6 per bushel on the Portland market. Hard red winter wheat ranges from $6.01 to $6.16 per bushel.

“I think we almost broke even on this field,” Gross said with a laugh. “The price has been really down in the dumps. … Not quite as low as it’s ever been, but if you compare inflation prices to what you’re getting per bushel, it’s got to be down there.”

Gross represents more than 160 Warden Hutterian members with his entry. He estimates the planting of next year’s crop is nearly 90% complete, but the brethren are still harvesting corn, and then they plan to plant winter wheat into that ground. Gross said they usually try to wrap up planting by mid-November.

Other bin busters

Steve VanGrunsven, of Forest Grove, Ore., had the top yield for dryland winter wheat, getting 170.63 bushels per acre with the Limagrain soft white winter variety Shine.

Nick Pfaff, of Bismarck, N.D., was the top yielder for dryland spring wheat, getting 117.6 bushels per acre with the Croplan hard red spring variety 3099A.

Jess Blatchford, of Baker City, Ore., was the top yielder for irrigated spring wheat, with 174.74 bushels per acre with the WestBred soft white wheat WB6341.

This year’s contest had 516 entries, the most ever in its nine years.

“It was like 100 entries over the record,” said project manager Anne Osborne of the National Wheat Foundation, which puts on the contest.

She credits the new contest website and industry partners that promote the event.

“Growing conditions were better going into the May 15 entry deadline,” she added.

“All across the country, these growers are showing they can do really exciting things with wheat yields,” Osborne said. “They’re proving it can be done — we’re doing high yield and high quality. If they can do it, every wheat grower could do it. We want people to challenge themselves to do this, because we need yield and quality so that wheat is a profitable part of their crop rotations and their farm.”

The foundation is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., and governed by a nine-member board of directors overseen by Chandler Goule. Osborne is assisted by the staff of the National Association of Wheat Growers, the foundation’s sole member.