Idaho farmer tops national wheat yield contest

CASTLEFORD, Idaho — Hail couldn’t keep Idaho farmer Rylee Reynolds from coming out on top during the annual National Wheat Yield Contest. But it did knock his average yields down a peg or two. Reynolds placed first in the contest’s irrigated winter wheat category with a yield of 214.16 bushels per acre. It’s Reynolds’ third time placing first in the contest. He previously won in 2022, with a yield of 231 bushels per acre and 2025, with a yield of 228.13 bushels per acre. “It means that what my dad and grandpa taught me has really worked well,” Reynolds told Capital Press. “We just continue moving that forward. We are very blessed to be able to continue to do what we do.” There’s no big secret to his success, he said. “We believe in fertility, so we keep our ground fertile and growing; we try really hard not to mine it,” he said. “Farming’s not a one-year deal, we’re built on a program and we stick to that program.

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