2025 was one of those years where the markets said, “don’t bother,” but the rotation said, “you don’t have a choice.”

Fertilizer prices were still ugly, wheat prices were uglier, and yet here we are — because you can’t run a farm around here without wheat in the lineup. So the game wasn’t “make a killing,” it was “lose the least money possible.”

That said … we actually ended up doing better than we thought. Here’s how the varieties stacked up, and what I learned on fertility that might save us all a couple gray hairs in 2026.

Rothsay’s been a steady hand for four years. On heavy ground, she did her job — solid yield, protein over 13%, and revenue just shy of CAG Ceres. Not the prom queen anymore, but still our #2 heading into 2026.

On lighter, coarse soils, though, she’ll break your heart if you front-load fertility and get a few timely rains — nitrogen leaches down and the protein crashes.

Uniform, pretty, makes you feel like a good farmer walking the field. But then the math hits: $18/bushel seed tag and protein that didn’t pay. Yield was right up there, but the ROI couldn’t keep up.

This one was the talk of wheat nerds in the offseason. All summer, it looked like a bin buster — reminded me of the old ND Faller (only without the lodging). It even held up when we didn’t get to it until 11% moisture.

I had my money on Stampede as the yield champ … and I was dead wrong.

Lowest yielder (~80 bu) but highest protein of the group. Best color, too — which might win ribbons at the state fair but doesn’t pay the fertilizer bill.

Cartoon-ish yields again this year, just like 2024. Protein came in about what you’d expect from the top yielder — mediocre.

But it comes with a warning label: push it hard in a wet year and scab risk goes through the roof.

The rockstar. 13.5 protein, mid-90s yield, stood like a post, and harvested clean. It was the revenue winner both before and after seed cost. To me, Ceres is what Rothsay wants to be when it grows up.

We didn’t plant it ourselves, but I heard a fair bit of chatter about TCG Zelda this year — supposedly strong on both yield and protein. Can’t vouch for it firsthand, but folks say it’s worth a test run in 2026.

Beyond that, the buzz was thin. AP Elevate had people talking last spring, but it sold out before I could get a bag.

Otherwise, word on the wheat street has been pretty quiet, which makes sense with wheat stuck at $5. Hard to get fired up about “the next big thing” when the price board’s half asleep.

Bottom line: Bushels make you feel good, but dollars/acre keep the lights on.

We came into 2025 staring down high fertilizer bills and low grain prices. With fertility eating 30% of the wheat budget, it was the only lever left to pull.

So we tried a new play: cut fertilizer just enough to cover the cost of Source + Blueprint, knowing those products would unlock ~35 lbs of N and P from the soil.

Net result:

And here’s the kicker: I don’t think we sacrificed a thing. If you want to balk at protein, my theory is it’s more about timing than total pounds.

Big bushels and high protein don’t usually come in the same package — you’ve got to feed late, especially when there’s ample moisture at grain fill. We had that moisture this year, but we passed because the math didn’t pencil. If conditions line up, it’s on the trial list for 2026.

This wasn’t a “cut half your fertilizer and pray” strategy. It was a calculated step, and it worked. In 2026, we’ll push a little harder on certain fields — reducing fertilizer where it makes sense, and shifting more of it into in-season passes where the crop can actually use it.

Wheat isn’t the golden ticket, but it doesn’t have to bleed red ink either. 2025 proved that with the right genetics and smarter fertility, wheat can still pull its weight in the rotation.

As always, if you’ve got questions or want to kick around your own plans for 2026, give me a call.

Pass it on if you think it’ll help somebody else.