(Editor's note: Kip Cullers is the Missouri soybean grower and High Yield Team member who last year grew 139-bushel soybeans, the highest yield on record.)

Farming doesn't produce many celebrities, at least not on the order of a Pitt or a Manning. Kip Cullers comes about as close as we get.

He's the southwest Missouri farmer who gained instant fame last fall when the Missouri Soybean Association announced that he had broken the world soybean yield record with a verified yield of 139 bushels an acre. He followed that up a few weeks later with winning yields in two categories of the National Corn Growers yield contest. One of them, in the no-till irrigated category, measured 347 bushels an acre -- the highest yield in any category for the 2006 contest.

That puts Cullers on farming's "hot" list on the speaking circuit. In fact, he told us in a visit to his farm last week, he's turning down several calls weekly from farm groups wanting him to share some secrets about the incredible yields.

"I'm not a speaker, and why would I go to Minnesota and tell them how to raise soybeans?" he asks. "I'm not in it [yield contests] for the speaking engagements, I'm in it for nothing but the fun," he says, likening it to the steer shows that invigorate many beef producers.

Cullers visits the Agriculture Online message boards, where his yields have drawn praise, plus some scrutiny. "I know they talk about me on there, and some people don't believe my yields. I read it, none of it bothers me."