Hula captures fourth national corn growing title

By BRUCE HOTCHKISS
Senior Editor

CHARLES CITY, Va. — There is a huge new jewel in the crown of U.S. corn king David Hula.
Hula, of Renwood Farms topped 8,425 corn growers from across the nation to capture the 2011 corn yield competition sponsored by the National Corn Growers Association.
He did it with an astonishing yield of 429.02 bushels an acre, eclipsing the nation’s second highest yield by 60 bushels an acre.
Already a three-time national corn-growing champion, Hula has been breaking the 300-bushel barrier on a regular basis since the year 2000. But 2011 was his first harvest over the 400-bushel mark.
The other winner in last year’s competition appeared to be Pioneer seed.
Seven other growers planting Pioneer brand corn hybrids won national titles in the 2011 and farmers planting Pioneer won 50 percent of the 18 national spots in the annual contest, including four of six first-place category finishes. Hula planted Pioneer P2088HR in the No Till/Strip Till Irrigated class.
Double ‘SA’ Farms Inc., Hart, Texas, had the second highest national yield of 370.38 bushels with Pioneer 32N74AM1 in the Irrigated class, and Randy Dowdy, Valdosta, Ga., had the third highest yield of 363.53 bushels with Pioneer P2023HR in the No-Till/Strip-Till Irrigated category.
Hula’s entry was harvested Aug. 26 from a 43-acre field, not far from the James River, where the corn had grown as tall as the top of the cab of the combine.
That was one day before Hurricane Irene swept over the farm and flattened what corn was left standing in the field. “I wanted to finish another field before the storm so we left a little bit.”
The field is under a pivot irrigation system with water drawn from the James River and Virginia  had received considerable rainfall around the first of July which is the pollination time frame in Virginia.
Hula said he had turned to Pioneer, 2088HR, a new seed which he said was “highly recommended.”
He also knew that the field had potential.  Some four years ago., he had harvested 385 bushels an acre there.  For the 2011 crop,  “I babied it,”  he admitted.
Renwood Farms is under what Hula calls “never till.” The family has no-tilled its corn and soybeans since the early 1980s. The field, which produced the 2011 entry, has been under continuous no-till since 1990.