Phillips County soybean producer Neil Culp has set a record for soybean yield, recording 130.784 bushels per acre in the annual Grow for the Green Soybean Yield Challenge.
When the contest began several years ago, the goal was to achieve 100 bushels per acre. Culp is now the 24th producer to claim a spot in the 100 Bushel Club.
“This is an amazing accomplishment, especially with the difficult conditions we experienced here in Arkansas during 2021,” said Jeremy Ross, Extension soybean agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “Most of the fields where growers are breaking 100 are high-production acreage. They are old cotton grounds and probably some of the best soils in the state with good fertility and good drainage.”
Phillips County is one of Arkansas’ top soybean-producing counties, yielding an average 60 bushels per acre. That’s slightly higher than the statewide average of 50 bushels per acre.
Culp and his brother, Blake, are fourth-generation farmers who run Double A Farm near Marvell. They plant anywhere between 2,000 and 3,000 acres of soybean every year.
Neil Culp said he has competed in the Grow for the Green competition for several years. Last year, he cut 97 bushels per acre, just shy of the 100-bushel mark. This year he planted Asgrow 45X8 on April 13 and harvested on Sept. 14. He cut three fields: the first yielded 102 bushels per acre; the second field, 92 bushels per acre; and the third field yielded the record 130 bushels per acre.
Culp said he wasn’t expecting to set any records this year, but when he started cutting the third field, he knew it was substantially more than the first two fields.
“We really didn’t do anything different this year,” he said. “I did the same thing this year as last year. We planted seed and prayed over the seed. God did it all. We were very blessed.”
Phillips County Extension county chair Shawn Payne and Ernest Bradley, a multicounty agent based at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, measured three times to verify the yield.
