Kip Cullers, Purdy Missouri: “The reason we planted soybeans out there was for our 2007 corn yield contest. Our actual intention was plowing them down as a green manure crop. But, Scott Dickey one of my Pioneer Agronomists was down and he was asking about soybeans. So “What did the soybeans look like?” I said, “Oh they look ok.” So “Let's go look at them.” So, I went and looked at them and went “Holy cow you better start taking care of these.” That's how it actually all come about. It really was by accident.”

If 2006 was an accident, then 2007 was a catastrophe. One year after setting a new soybean record of 139 bushels an acre, Cullers shattered that record with a 154 bushel per acre yield.

Kip Cullers, Purdy, Missouri: “The 139, I mean, we really didn't have any idea we knew they was going to be way over a hundred. We didn't know how much, I mean, everybody that looked at them was like holy cow I've never seen anything like it and last year when they made the 154 you know. Basically the same thing. A lot of it had to do with our average seed size on those is about 2100 seeds per pound at harvest which normal is about 3000. So you know basically a third of our yields just fell free out of the sky by having larger seed.”

Cullers believes the most important thing a farmer can do to improve his yields is to plant the right genetics. While there are plenty of experts who disagree with him, he also feels that larger seed will produce a more vigorous plant with greater yields.

Kip Cullers, Purdy, Missouri: “Most people would rather plant the small seed because you're buying it by the pound versus by the K. So the smaller seed the more seeds you get in bag and it saves a little seed cost but you know it's each his own but the way I look at it is corn is six dollars and beans are thirteen. So you can spend a little extra on seed it's not that big of deal.”

Despite his recognition as the nation's "soybean king," Cullers primary crop is corn. With over 12,000 acres in production, he's a big believer in identifying problems before they get out of hand and applies a fungicide to the 700 acres of soybeans he irrigates. He also scouts his fields every day which adds up to a lot of time on the road. In fact, this spring Cullers put over 11,000 miles on his pick up in just three months.

Kip Cullers, Purdy, Missouri: “You know when I grew up we, we farmed right there at home and everything was in, I mean you could walk if you had to. You know now that would be totally out of the question. With corn in seven counties I mean my gosh, we'd never get to see it all.”

Cullers also spends a lot of time on the phone talking to researchers and plants a lot of contest acres, where new ideas, technologies and genetics are tested.

Kip Cullers, Purdy, Missouri: “What our use our contest acres for is strictly a learning tool. What can I learn there and go apply that to all the normal acres because if you could add ten bushels to every acre my gosh look at the reward is on that.”

Palle Pedersen, Iowa State University: “We have done more than a 100 bushel per acre here in Iowa and our plants are tiny compared to his plants down there. So, I believe him. I have seen it.”

Palle Pedersen is a soybean extension agronomist at Iowa State University and just one of the experts that Cullers turns to for advice. While Pedersen encourages farmers to employ the same farming practices that Cullers follows, he believes that the Newtonia Red soil that Cullers farms could be largely responsible for his high yields.

Kip Cullers, Purdy, Missouri: “There's only about 23/2400 acres of it. Pretty well anywhere in the United States. If you dug down here 12 feet deep you know it'd be red from top to bottom.”

The soil, a sandy silt loam that drains extremely well, allows Cullers to irrigate his crops without having to worry about damaging the roots and it allows him to grow more plants per acre than other soil types.

Palle Pedersen, Iowa State University: “He's seeding extremely high seed rate. He's able to keep all the plants. If we for example in Iowa seeding two hundred thousand seeds per acre our final stand will probably be around 135/140 thousand. So we will loose a lot of the seeds we're putting out simply from plant to plant competition. But it can be many thing on his farm is the reason why. Altitude, CO2 levels, growing degree units, many, many things that, that is the reason why he get those high yields.”

When the national average yield for soybeans is is 41 bushels an acre, a 155 bushel per acre yield gets the attention from both researchers and growers.

Kip Cullers, Purdy, Missouri: “People come from you know we're not very far from Branson and they looked that up on the map and they said “Well, my gosh that crazy nut that raises those high yield soybeans is only fifty minutes away so we better go by and see him.” The problem is I can't, I can't handle the visitors and I won't give farm tours or nothing and it's a really, really, really problem because I have people that shows up from all over the United States wanting to talk to me you know its like I'm sorry. I just can't I don't have time and I'm not trying to be jerk but I mean I farm thousands of acres and I just can't handle the visitors.”

To help him answer all the “How’d ya do it” questions, Pioneer Seeds has given Cullers space on their electronic newsletter called “GrowingPoint.” And, if someone should take that information and dethrone him as “King of the Hill” of beans, that would suit Culler’s just fine.

Kip Cullers, Purdy, Missouri: “You know I don't have a clue how long that record will hold. Hopefully there's a lot of people out there trying to break it and maybe they'll break it and then I can go talk to them and learn something from them and we'll make 250 bushels but you know records are made to be broken and I hope somebody hurries up and break this thing so I can go talk to them and see what they done because maybe I need to be doing things totally different than what I'm doing.”

In the fall we’ll check back with Kip Cullers to see how this year’s harvest fairs.

For Market to Market, I’m Jeannie Campbell.