A full year of hard work producing high quality yield data is summed up in our annual Performance Summary booklets. Through the winter, the FIRST Field Managers and their teams maintain equipment, organize test sponsorship and design, then receive and package seed for FIRST's randomized block-design, replicated strip trials. In the spring, they work with farmer cooperators to select sites, lay out and flag plot locations, and plant the trials. During the summer, the managers take accurate counts of plant stands in each plot -- that is 3 or 4 replicates of 36-80 seed products in 1-3 maturity tests per location -- more than 500 plots at some sites.

When fall arrives, the managers prepare their customized combines for logging accurate yield data using weigh buckets and calibrated moisture sensing technology. They harvest each of the plots, carefully logging weight, moisture, and lodging, in addition to the stand counts collected in the summer. All of these data are compiled into averages of the replicates and analyzed to produce a statistically sound comparison of products in the same field conditions: reporting the Top 30 products by gross income and indicating which ones were significantly better than the plot average. Harvest Reports are typically posted within 2 days of harvest for the public at no charge on www.firstseedtests.com.

The Performance Summary booklets compile the top yielding products and are organized regionally by Field Manager(s). We have 7 of 10 summaries ready exclusively for newsletter readers, linked below. Look for the all Performance Summaries posted on our National Summary Report page soon.

FIRST is proud to offer this information on corn, soybean, and silage yield performance to help growers and seedsmen select the best products for American farms.