Contest Qualifications

MEMBERSHIP – Entrants must be dues-paying members of the South Dakota Wheat Growers Association. Dues may be included with entry ($100 for one-year membership or $250 for three-year membership) or complete the secure online form linked here. Entries can be in the farm name or individual name. Multiple entries are accepted.

Entry Fees

• First entry: $0 (SDWGA dues must be current)
• Additional entries: $10 each
  • Each entry must be submitted on separate entry forms and have a different identifying letter (I.e. Entry A, Entry B, etc.).

Districts

• The state will be divided into seven (7) separate reporting districts.
• The location of the field, not the entrant address, will determine the district of entry.
• The counties for each districts include:
  • District 1: Butte, Corson, Dewey, Harding, Perkins, and Ziebach
  • District 2: Custer, Fall River, Haakon, Lawrence, Meade, Pennington, and Stanley
  • District 3: Bennett, Gregory, Jackson, Jones, Lyman, Mellette, Shannon, Todd, and Tripp
  • District 4: Aurora, Brule, Buffalo, Charles Mix, Douglas, Faulk, Hand, Hughes, Hyde, Jerauld, and Spink
  • District 5: Campbell, Edmunds, McPherson, Potter, Sully, and Walworth
  • District 6: Brown, Day, Grant, Marshall, and Roberts
  • District 7: Beadle, Bon Homme, Brookings, Clark, Clay, Codington, Davison, Deuel, Hamlin, Hanson, Hutchinson, Kingsbury, Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Miner, Minnehaha, Moody, Sanborn, Turner, Union, and Yankton

Field Qualifications

• Field must be at least five (5) contiguous acres of one variety number. Contiguous being defined as “not separated by public roads, permanent field roads, or waterways that are delineated out of FSA maps or other structures or features that cause a field to be ‘farmed separately’.”
• Out of this field, a minimum of at least 1.5 contiguous acres must be harvested for the official weight/yield. There is no maximum size for the official weight/yield.
• Field will be verified by a 3^rd party supervisor during harvest of the contest field.

Supervisor/3rd Party Witness Qualifications

• Supervisors must be present at harvest and verify that the contest rules were followed.
• The supervisor’s name must be on the SDWGA content entry form along with their title, address, telephone number, and email address for the entry to be accepted.
• The supervisor will make all field measurements and computations, witness the harvesting and weighing for the contest plot, verify the date of harvest and location of contest field.
• It is the responsibility of the entrant to submit the final paperwork.
• Supervisors should be from the following list: SDWGA board members, FFA advisors, Ag Ed instructors, Extension agent, NRCS employee, College of Ag instructor, accredited farm manager, crop consultant, ag banker, crop insurance agent or adjuster, certified crop advisor, or anyone who is retired from one of these positions.
• Supervisors cannot be: the contestant themselves, related to the contestant, employee of the contestant, seed company representative, chemical company representative, retail fertilizer representative, or in any way have any interest in the crop.

The South Dakota Wheat Growers Association reserves the right to view and/or inspect, with prior notice, any variety entered at any time. SDWGA also reserved the right to disqualify any entry in violation of the stated contest rules and regulations.

Harvest Rules

Do no use end/turning rows and the outermost rows of the field as part of the contest acres. Remember the field must be at least 5 contiguous acres and harvest, under supervision, and must be a minimum of 1.5 acres from the contest area. No rechecks are required. Supervisor must be present at harvest to witness and verify that the contest rules were followed.

Measuring

Preferred measurement tools are a tape or chain.

• Plot length: If all rows are the same length, measure the length and record the length for the rows harvested. If the rows are not the same length, measure down the center of each row harvested and record a calculated average length of the rows harvested.
• Plot width: record the plot width harvested.

Calculating Acres Harvested

• Exact size of measured area in the nearest half or whole feed from which yield is determined, with a minimum of 1.5 acres.
• The total row length (feet) multiplied by the width harvested (feet) divided by 43,560 (square feet in an acre) equals acres harvested.
  • (Length (ft.) _______  X   Width (ft.) _______) / 43,450 = ________ Acres (4 decimal places)

Weighing

• Weigh the wheat as soon as possible after harvesting.
• All wheat must be weighted on a state certified scale with the supervisor witnessing the weighing. On-farm scales must be state inspected.

Moisture Testing

• An experienced person must make moisture determination of a representative sample of the wheat.
• If sampling and scaling are performed by the grower, it is best to have the same sample run through the meter three times and take the average of the three.
• The moisture analysis on the day of harvest will be used to determine yield. The moisture percentage must be listed on the Harvest Data Form.

Calculating Yield

• Yield will be adjusted to 13.5% moisture.
• All calculations will be carried to four decimal places.
• Yield Calculations:
  • Step 1: Adjust yield to 13.5% moisture using the following formula: [lbs. of wheat X  (100 – Measured Moisture %)] / 86.5 = Adjusted Yield at 13.5% moisture
  • Step 2: Adjusted % Moisture Yield / 60 lbs. per bu / number of acres = Final Bushels per Acre