Wheat Champs
High-yielding Southern States wheat varieties dominate in North Carolina.

When you’re running a farm that has been in the family for 150 years, there is a sense of pride that is hard to hide. That’s the case with the West family of North Carolina. “We’ve been here for seven generations,” says Jerry West of the family’s diversified farming operation.

That pride was given an additional boost in 2005 when West Farms produced the highest yielding wheat in the state. Extension Service officials certified a plot of 111.2 bushels per acre.

Their winning wheat variety: Southern States’ SS 520.

It was the first year the Wests had entered a wheat yield contest. “A top yield in a normal year here is about 80 bushels per acre,” says Jerry. “But it was a perfect weather year for wheat in 2005, and our SS 520 made the most of it,” he adds.

Lying mostly on productive Coastal Plains sandy loam soil, just east of I-95 in Wayne County, the Lee place is a multigeneration operation today. Jerry’s sons, Craig and Brad (both N.C. State University grads), are fully involved in their diversified farming business.

“Finding the best early-maturity soft red winter wheat varieties is important to us,” notes Craig. He says that getting an early wheat harvest (usually the first half of June in their area) is critical to getting their double-crop soybeans planted in a timely fashion.

The Wests purchase wheat seed at their nearby Southern States store in Wilson, N.C. “Last fall they planted all of their 450 acres of wheat to Southern States’ SS 520,” notes the store’s field sales associate, Delmer Langley.

Store manager Jay Gooch points out that SS 520 is only one of a half dozen soft red winter wheat varieties developed by plant breeders for Southern States.

Langley is quick to add that Southern States wheat varieties took 18 out of the 25 top spots in the 2005 North Carolina wheat yield contest.

And get this: The West’s fellow Wayne County farmers at Aycock Brothers Farm produced the second-best yield in the state with SS 520 wheat. Their yield: 111.1 bushels per acre.

Says Randy Aycock, who operates the diversified farm with his brothers Wayne and Phil, “We use the Southern States wheat varieties because they yield well; they’ve got the market cornered around here on top-quality wheats.”

Running a farm that goes back in the family to 1762, the Aycocks are longtime Southern States customers. “We’ve been with them for years,” says Randy. “They’ve got good folks—people you can call on and get good service from—folks like Jay and Delmer who know what they’re selling.”

While the Wests and Aycocks have decided that SS 520 is just the right early-maturity variety for their operation, Southern States has an entire stable of winter wheat varieties that carry the coveted Growmaster Quality seal of approval.

There is SS 550 medium maturity; SS 560 medium-late maturity; SS 8302 medium-late maturity; SS 8308 medium maturity; and SS 8309 medium-late maturity. And for those who grow wheat for forage and grain there is MPV-57 medium-late maturity.

Each variety features its own unique traits. That means there’s a Southern States wheat variety that will fit just about any soil or climate in Southern States country.

What’s more, all of the wheats from Southern States can be purchased with seed treatments that will meet regional insect and disease challenges. Available treatments from the Cooperative include Gaucho© XT, Baytan© and Raxil© XT.

Langley is quick to praise the management abilities of both of his top-producing wheat seed customers. “Their top management skills, combined with quality Southern States products such as SS 520 wheat, yields outstanding results. In this case the No. 1 and No. 2 yield producers in the whole state!”