We use a large sample of Kansas Farm Management Association farms for eight different crop/practice combinations (dryland and irrigated corn, sorghum, soybeans, and wheat) for 1994 through 2006 to evaluate the determinants of relative yield performance and explore the ability of financial variables to account for some of the remaining unexplained variation. Our hypothesis is that more financially sound farms should be able to implement better production techniques, thus have better yields. We further test whether decoupled payments can be used to enhance yield performance. Our hypothesis is that payments may be used to boost investment in inputs or equipment that can lead to better yields. Our results suggest this could be the case.