Yield winners do battle with the elements and come out on top

Roger Sylvester-Bradley

The annual Yield Enhancement Network Awards for cereals and oilseeds went online for the first time on Wednesday 25th November. Held in conjunction with the Croptec Show and hosted this year by Teresa Meadows of AHDB and Tom Allen-Stevens of CPM Magazine, the Awards were an open event for the first time, so everyone in the UK’s arable industry from the UK, Europe and around the world, could easily learn about the impressive achievements of YEN growers in the difficult growing year that was 2020.

This year was one that all of us, and especially UK growers, will find hard to forget. The wettest autumn and winter in decades switched to drought conditions in spring, then a dull summer ensured many could not reach the record-breaking yields of previous years. Yet despite the weather, crops were sown, competition was tight, yields were high, and many growers achieved close to the full potential of their land – some even exceeded it!

But YEN is not just a competition.  Most growers enter YEN to understand how to achieve high yields on their land, and YEN scientists are keen to help.   Roger Sylvester-Bradley, YEN founder, commenting overall, said that: 

Although fewer growers found good crops to enter, this year saw some amazing yield achievements.  A few yields are even questioning whether our science-based estimates of crop potentials – averaging 18 t/ha from autumn sowings this year – are too pessimistic!  This is how farming and science can make progress together – by farmers and scientists sharing their results and posing hard questions to each other.

Sarah Kendall, crop physiologist at ADAS, commenting on the many spring barley crops entered in YEN 2020, said:

Winning crops achieved high ear numbers, which are so crucial in creating the storage capacity that barley crops need. Many low yielding crops were clearly impacted significantly by the dry spring which reduced tillering and tiller retention.

Pete Berry, head of Crop Physiology at ADAS, commenting on oilseed yields, said that:

Overwinter waterlogging followed by spring drought, together with high flea beetle pressure, was the perfect storm for oilseed rape last season. Estimated yield potentials for 2020 were less than in previous years mainly due to less available water in the spring. It is therefore all the more remarkable that several YEN growers achieved over 6 t/ha. It was particularly important to achieve deep rooting to tolerate the dry spring. 

Watch the awards recording on YouTube

Winners awards were as follows:

Cereal YEN

Best Yield (Field)                                                                                                        

  • GOLD: Tim Lamyman of Lincolnshire, Independent entry     15.6 t/ha
  • SILVER: Tim Lamyman of Lincolnshire, Independent entry   15.4 t/ha
  • BRONZE: Peter Chapman of Aberdeenshire, Sponsored by Hutchinsons   14.8 t/ha

Best % of Potential Yield (Field)                                                                             

  • GOLD: Ian Learmonth of Aberdeenshire, Sponsored by Hutchinsons      102% of 13.9 t/ha
  • SILVER: Tim Lamyman of Lincolnshire, Independent entry     98% of 15.9 t/ha
  • BRONZE: Ashley Jones, of Cornwall, Sponsored by AHDB     92% of 13.9 t/ha

Best  Yield (Trials)                                                                                                      

  • GOLD: Ben Giles in Oxfordshire, sponsored by Bayer    13.1 t/ha

Best % of Potential Yield (Trials)                                                                            

  • GOLD: Ben Giles in Oxfordshire, sponsored by Bayer   84% of 15.6 t/ha

Regional Awards for field entries

For the Highest Yield                                                                                                 

  • Scotland: Peter Chapman of Aberdeenshire, sponsored by Hutchinsons   14.8 t/ha
  • Northern: Thomas Todd of Northumberland, sponsored by Hutchinsons    14.6 t/ha
  • East Midlands: Tim Lamyman of Lincolnshire, independent entry    15.6 t/ha
  • East Anglia: Richard Means of Cambridgeshire, independent entry   12.7 t/ha
  • The West: Mark Doble of Somerset, sponsored by BASF      13.9 t/ha
  • South East: James Loder-Symonds of Kent, independent entry    12.0 t/ha
  • Outside UK: Asmus Fromm-Christiansen of Denmark, sponsored by Hutchinsons   14.0 t/ha

For the Highest % of Potential Yield                                                                      

  • Scotland: Ian Learmonth, of Aberdeenshire, sponsored by Hutchinsons  102% of 13.9 t/ha
  • Northern: Thomas Todd of Northumberland, sponsored by Hutchinsons    78% of 18.6 t/ha
  • East Midlands: Tim Lamyman of Lincs., independent entry      98% of 15.9 t/ha
  • East Anglia: Richard Means of Cambs., independent entry     90% of 14.0 t/ha
  • The West: Ashley Jones of Cornwall, sponsored by AHDB    92% of 13.9 t/ha
  • South East: James Loder-Symonds of Kent, independent entry    75% of 16.1 t/ha
  • Outside UK: Brian Salome of The Netherlands, independent entry      64% of 20.1 t/ha

Best Yield (Field: Winter Barley)             

  • GOLD: Tim Lamyman of Lincolnshire, sponsored by Hutchinsons    12.7 t/ha

Best % of Potential Yield (Field: Winter Barley) 

  • GOLD: David Bell of Fife, Independent entry  84% of 14.1 t/ha

 

Spring Barley YEN

Best Yield (Field)                                                                                                        

  • GOLD: David Bell, of Fife, sponsored by Limagrain/Nickerson    11.3 t/ha
  • SILVER: Thomas Todd of Northumberland, sponsored by Syngenta   10.7 t/ha
  • BRONZE: Peter Chapman, of Aberdeenshire, sponsored by Limagrain/Nickerson  9.7 t/ha

Best % of Potential Yield (Field)                                                                             

  • GOLD: Peter Chapman, of Aberdeenshire, sponsored by Limagrain/Nickerson  87% of 11.1​ t/ha
  • SILVER: David Bell, of Fife, sponsored by Limagrain/Nickerson    83% of 13.7 ​t/ha
  • BRONZE: Duncan Wilson, of Angus, sponsored by AHDB   74% of 10.4 t/ha

 

Oilseed YEN

Best Yield (gross output - seed yield adjusted for oil content) (Field)                                                                            

  • GOLD: Tim Lamyman of Lincs, independent entry  7.01 t/ha
  • SILVER: Mark Stubbs of Lincolnshire, independent entry   6.71 t/ha
  • BRONZE: John & Tom Williams of East Yorks., sponsored by Limagrain/Nickerson  6.59 t/ha

Best % of Potential Yield % of t/ha

  • GOLD: Tim Lamyman of Lincolnshire, independent entry   69% of 10.2 t/ha
  • SILVER: Mark Stubbs of Lincolnshire, independent entry     61% of 11.04 t/ha
  • BRONZE: Allan K. Jensen of Denmark, sponsored by Bayer   60% of 8.28 t/ha                                                                                                       

The YEN particularly seeks to celebrate innovators; special recognition in 2020 was given through the:

YEN Innovator of the year award:

  • Chris Eglington of Norfolk

For pushing the boundaries of arable crop performance though actively initiating and encouraging crop measurement and testing.