first to grow 500 bushel corn
RECORD SETTER
Cuts Corn
with a calmer
BREAKS
RECORDS
one micro adjustment after another
2014 Corn Yield 503 BPA
2016 Soybean Yield 171 BPA
RUNS CALMER BUILT HEAD
Randy Dowdy is a first generation farmer from Valdosta, Georgia. He operates a 1,700-acre corn, soybean and peanuts farm. Randy set the world corn yield record in 2014 with a yield of 503 BPA. In 2016, he set the world record in soybeans at 171 BPA and reached a personal best corn haul on his farm of 521 BPA. Randy Dowdy’s production strategies focus on maximizing yields by minimizing stress that plants experience throughout the growing season. Randy’s forward thinking approach to crop production challenges traditionally accepted practices and focuses on extracting as much yield as possible from each seed planted.
Farmers Prefer Calmer
Real Work.
Real Results.
How do you grow 500 Bushel Corn?
“You have to begin with a stand that will produce enough grain to total 500 bushels per acre”
But you also have to be “proactive” in protecting that stand (52,000 plants per acre in Dowdy’s case) to make sure the corn reaches as close to the yield potential that’s in the bag of corn seed before it’s ever opened.
“The breeders tell us there is 700 bushels of yield potential in a bag of seed,” says Dowdy, speaking on a windy day at a BASF Grow Smart media event at the Memphis, Tenn., Agricenter International. “Everything we do is aimed at capturing and protecting as much of that yield potential as we can.”
Growing corn behind corn can present special challenges, especially in fields where growers are trying to produce high yields and thus create high volumes of residue at harvest.
“We understand that we’re planting corn on corn, and we have to be more proactive with some of our diseases up front,” says Dowdy. “Northern corn leaf blight is a big problem in Georgia, especially where you’re growing corn on corn.
Minimizing litter
We do a good job of trying to minimize litter, we do a good job of trying to provide nutrients so we provide energy to micro-organisms to break down that fodder, but we still have the potential for northern corn leaf blight to fire up from the bottom up. The BT Choppers provide the first step in that process right from the corn head.
“Being a first generation farmer, I didn’t have preconceived notions so we had to learn a lot from smarter people around us instead of re-inventing the wheel,” said Dowdy. “You have to be a student of the crop…you have to have data and understand the science behind it.”