Setting realistic yield goals and understanding the production potential of a cropping system helps farmers make better management decisions. Knowing the highest maximum corn yields recorded in a county can help producers make better production plans.

Many data sources can be used to determine the production potential of Wisconsin's diverse soils and climate. The NRCS publishes production capabilities for each soil series in Wisconsin. Yield contests and hybrid performance trials provide data that can be used to establish production potential in an area.sconsin PEPS program has had the objectives of: i) recognizing the practices utilized by the most profitable growers and, ii) emphasizing soil and water conservation, efficiency, profitability and competitiveness vs. productivity alone. The insights gained from this program are used and integrated by other growers into their cropping systems.

The National Corn Growers Association has conducted yield contests since 1983. The objective of this contest is to maximize grain yield production. Production costs are not a consideration.

In both the PEPS program and NCGA Yield Contest, grain yield is measured on 10-acre farm fields using field scale production equipment. Figure 1 lists the maximum corn yields measured in Wisconsin counties. Yields tend to be greatest in south-central and southwestern Wisconsin, although numerous counties in western and eastern Wisconsin have recorded corn grain yields in excess of 200 bu/A. To date, the highest yield recorded in Wisconsin was 254 bu/A and occurred in LaFayette county during 1998.