Despite a drought that gripped the area for the past couple of years, two Rowan based farming operations produced the highest yields of soybeans in the state.
Brothers Ben and Clark Knox, doing business as Knox Grain Farms, took the top honors for 2000 with a yield of 74.7 bushels per acre.
The Knox yield edged out Bobby Waller of Salisbury who had the second highest yield at 71.6 bushels per acre.
The Knoxes have about 600 acres of grains in the Mount Ulla-Cleveland area, with about 400 acres of that in soybeans. They also have some fields in Iredell county.
Ben Knox is a regional agronomist with the N.C. Department of Agriculture. Clark Knox is a full-time farmer and also hauls liquid fertilizer and grain for other farmers.
Although they won the yield contest, Ben Knox said 2000 wasn’t a good year.
The yield contest involves three acres. In this case, the tract was in a Third Creek bottom where growth was unaffected by lack of rainfall.
Unlike a lot of farmers who plant beans as a follow crop, the Knoxes plant beans as a full-season crop, usually during the first couple weeks in May.
Their yield was around 37 bushels per acre last year. In some of the drier fields, yields dropped to less than 20 bushels.
The drought also cut into the corn yield, with the average down to 75 bushels per acre.
The Knoxes are preparing for another dry year, making some adjustments to deal with the continuation of the drought.
“There are no water reserves,” said Ben Knox, pointing out that groundwater level tables have dropped so low that many farm ponds across the county are are not full.
“We’re 30 inches behind” in rainfall totals, he said.
The Knoxes expect to grow more soybeans this year and less corn. “Soybeans are more drought-tolerant,” Knox said.
Statewide, the 2000 soybean crop flourished with good growing conditions.
“This year’s crop had probably the best growing season in quite some time,” said James Dunphy, contest administrator and soybean specialist in the Crop Sciences Department at N.C. State University.
As the highest yield winners, the Knoxes received a free trip to the national conference and exposition of the American Soybean Association and the National Corn Growers Association held in San Antonio, Texas.
Waller received a plaque and recognition at the the joint soybean, corn and small grains associations session in Raleigh.
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