Champion Won My Trial The Year I Started Selling Champion

I started planting corn one day too soon.

It was hot. Wyoming winds. And I was panicking that if I waited, the ground would dry out and I'd miss our window entirely. Scars from a dry 2023 planting season corrupted my judgment.

So I jumped the gun.

We ran two reps on this trial—each around 1,100 feet, separated by a headland. In the past, we've run straight half-mile strips. I prefer full-field trials over the 200-400-foot plots most guys plant in their best ground.

Real-world conditions matter more than perfect soil.

It's not perfect, but we do the best we can with what we have. And anybody who's ever run on-farm trials knows it's not as easy as it looks.

Anyway.

The west end wasn't quite fit. Stands suffered across multiple varieties. East side? Decent. 27-29K emergence. West side? 23-26K, maybe less in the low spots.

That stand loss created an accidental stress test across 14 corn hybrids.

And here's the part that makes me look like a liar:

Champion still won the plot, even where the stand came up thin on the west side.

I know how this looks. Trust me, I know.

But the data is the data. Let me show you.

Most guys would look at a trial like this and quietly shelve the data.

Too many variables. Too much room for doubt. Better to just not publish it.

I'm doing the opposite.

Because hiding your mistakes doesn't make them go away, it just means nobody learns from them.

And the data from a messy trial where things went wrong might actually tell you more about real-world performance than a pristine plot where everything went right.

So yeah, I'm publishing this—all of it.

Including the parts that make me look incompetent.

Why 30K?

Because that's the seed I had available when it was time to plant.

The plot was already flagged and laid out. The planter was ready. And the seed rep showed up—as they do 9 times out of 10—at the very last minute with what he could bring.

So you work with what you've got.

This wasn't a "low population study." This was "the rest of the field is planted at 34K, but the plot gets what the plot gets."

Welcome to the seed world.

Four of the top five are Champion. The exception is PB9983 VT2P—a Partner's Brand hybrid that's been around since 2018 and consistently performs.

We planted it in the field surrounding this plot. Solid, dependable, and it fought through the same stand issues.

The pattern is clear. And suspiciously convenient.

In 2025, we switched True Grit's corn and soybean lineup from Legend Seeds and Peterson Farms Seed to 100% Champion.

Not because Legend or Peterson makes inferior products. They don't. We sold Legend for years and gave Peterson a shot for one season.

We switched because of simplicity and alignment.

We just rebranded from Riopelle Seed Company to True Grit Ag. Sticking with an ag business in an area where everything is stacked against you takes true grit. So does doing things differently.

We're building a full-service agronomy operation—fertility planning, soil testing, VRT mapping, data management, the whole deal. I don't have the mental bandwidth or warehouse space to juggle three seed companies with three pricing structures and three different systems.

Champion's Alliance Group approach aligns with where we're headed: streamlined product lineup, strong agronomic support, and a business philosophy that makes sense for what we're building.

Plus, Austin and Al have a knack for selecting corn hybrids for the north. But that's a bonus.

At the end of the day, it was a business decision, not a genetics decision.

Then I planted this trial.

And Champion won. Decisively.

Which makes this the most suspicious-looking plot data I've ever published.

1. The check hybrid tells the truth.

PB9580 (Partner's Brand check) ran in 8 reps across both passes. Average: 159.95 bu/ac. CV: 4.05%. That's excellent consistency for field conditions. The plot is solid.

2. The stand differential makes Champion's performance MORE impressive.

Champion varieties had reps on both the good side (East) and the stressed side (West). They still won. If anything, the uneven stand hurt Champion more than it helped, yet they still outperformed by 5-7%.

3. Champion emerged better through poor conditions.

When I planted into marginally fit ground, Champion came up stronger. That's not rigging the trial. That's precisely what you want to know: which hybrids handle your mistakes?

4. I'm publishing ALL the data, including competitor names.

Peterson 74P81 performed at 163.40 bu/ac. Solid, respectable, above check. Burris 5Z182AM came in at 160.08, basically even with check. These are good hybrids. Champion just outperformed them in this environment.

East Pass Average: 165.50 bu/ac
West Pass Average: 155.65 bu/ac
Difference: 9.85 bu/ac

That 10-bushel environmental effect is bigger than most of the hybrid differences in this trial.

The west side is lower ground—holds water longer, dries slower in spring, and emerges less consistently. I knew this. I panic-planted anyway because I was afraid of losing moisture.

That decision cost us 3-5K plants per acre on the west end.

At $3.50 corn, that's roughly $30/acre I left on the table by not waiting one more day.

Lesson learned. Again.

Thank the Lord we saved all that money on fertilizer, or I'd probably be looking for a job right now.

Champion 33A20, 36A24, and 31A23 are legitimate high-performers in northwest Minnesota conditions. 5-7% yield advantage over the check isn't noise. It's real.

Stand establishment matters more than most farmers think. A 15-30% stand loss created a yield penalty that no amount of in-season management can recover.

Planting into marginal conditions is expensive. One extra day of patience would've been worth roughly $30/acre. I won't make that mistake again.

Yes, we sell Champion now.

Yes, Champion won our trial.

I know how this looks. But I'm publishing all the data, including every competitor by name, because transparency matters more than credibility.

If you think I'm full of shit, that's fair. The data stands on its own.

In 2026, we're running the trial again. Same field. Same variability. Same messy conditions.

Why? Because this is what real farming looks like. Perfect plots on perfect ground don't tell you what happens when things go sideways.

We'll test multiple Champion varieties to see whether the performance advantage holds. I'd love to include competitor products—if you're a seed company willing to participate in a fully transparent, publicly published trial, reach out.

Otherwise, we'll run what we've got and let the data speak for itself.

We'll also be dealing with something most guys don't talk about: 41 lbs of residual nitrate left in the soil after harvest. That's paid-for fertilizer sitting in the ground, which changes the economics of what we plant next.

And it raises an interesting question: Do we plant soybeans like normal, or do we go with continuous corn on a field that's already half-fertilized?

More on that—and what it means for 2026 fertility planning—in next week's newsletter.

Because this is the part where it gets interesting.