Kansas Farmer Takes Top Honors in the 2025 National Wheat Yield Contest
Dec 3, 2025
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The contents of this blog come from an interview conducted by Addison Stoddard with Kerry Roach at Trade Talk in Kansas City, Missouri.
It’s another big moment for Kansas agriculture. This year, a Kansas farmer brought home the top national title in the 2025 National Wheat Yield Contest — and the winning entry highlights the strength of varieties being developed for real-world performance across diverse growing regions.
Addison spoke with Kerry Roach of WestBred, a key supporter of the contest and the work of the National Wheat Foundation. Roach says the contest is more than a competition; it’s a valuable look at how wheat varieties perform under real farm conditions.
“We’re really excited to support the National Wheat Yield Contest and the National Wheat Foundation,” Roach said. “It’s a real-world example of how those varieties are performing in these different yield environments.”
WestBred Varieties Shine in the Competition
This year’s contest featured 28 national categories, and WestBred varieties made a strong showing. Out of those 28 categories, 16 winning entries were planted with WestBred varieties — more than half.
Kansas farmer Alec Horton of Leoti claimed the overall national win using WB 4792, a hard red winter wheat variety that Roach says has been performing especially well in western Kansas.
“We’re really excited about how WB 4792 performed for him in that region,” Roach added.
More Awards Coming in 2026
While this contest primarily focuses on yield, another important part of the competition is the quality awards, which highlight how varieties measure up for milling, baking, and export markets. Those awards will be announced in January 2026.
For the past three years, WestBred varieties have continued to stand out in the quality division as well. Nearly 50% of all quality winners during that period planted WestBred seed — a testament to the company’s work in pairing strong yields with consistent end-use quality.
“It’s about yield, but there’s also a quality component because that’s super important when we think about export markets,” said Roach.
