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Best yield in Western Canada earned Herder trip to Florida

After recording the best yield in Western Canada for a test plot of Pioneer canola

After recording the best yield in Western Canada for a test plot of Pioneer canola, Sylvan Lake’s Jim Herder recently received a trip to Florida.

He entered Pioneer’s The Proving Ground Yield Challenge then planted a test plot using the company’s products.

Data was kept on planting and harvesting, tillage and previous crop planted in the field.

He tested several varieties of Pioneer seed and produced the highest yield in Western Canada, said Brent Jordan, the Pioneer sales rep for the area. Data on the Pioneer website shows a yield for the 45H31 seed at 77.8 and for the 45H29 seed at 76.2 bushels with moisture levels of 11.2 and 11.0 per cent respectively. To determine the winner calculations were then made adjusting the moisture level to 8.0 per cent.

The prize included a trip for two to the 2013 Pioneer Ag View program and the Commodity Classic in Kissimmee, Florida, from Feb. 25 to Mar. 3. There were about 600 people at the Pioneer program and probably 5,000-6,000 farmers at the Commodity Classic which included a host of different companies, said Herder. The event includes annual meetings for producer groups and a trade show. “It’s a pretty big event.”

This was the second time that Herder won a prize in the competition. Last year he won for best yield in the area, this year for best yield in Western Canada. This is a new thing in the west, he said. It’s only the second year Pioneer has sponsored the contest here, yet these types of programs are very common in the United States.

There were 13 winners in total, one from each of the 13 Pioneer Hi-Bred territories in Western Canada which includes Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.