This year’s Yield Enhancement Network Awards focused on enhancing crop nutrition, and saw new pulse categories added to the competition.

See also: How growers can build resilience on arable farms

Highest yielding spring oat crop 

Lincolnshire farm manager Mark Popplewell won gold for the highest yielding spring oat crop in this year’s Yield Enhancement Network (YEN) Awards, with a record-breaking 11.46t/ha yield at Happy Days Farming.

The crop of Merlin yielded double the national average. Perhaps more importantly, it averaged an impressive 9.8t/ha across the entire 320ha spring oat area, making it the farm’s most profitable crop last season.

“The yield was so high, we thought the equipment was faulty. The grain tank was filling much faster than expected. It became clear we were looking at something exceptional,” says Mark.

The unprecedented yield, was put down to several factors including optimal nutrition, good varietal strengths, and weather conditions which enabled the crop to thrive.

The farm’s Agrii agronomist Stuart McDowall explains: “Oats inherently like wet, humid conditions so last year’s growing season suited the crop.”

The oats were planted on 30 March, following a crop of spring beans. The land was originally destined for winter wheat, but wet winter conditions forced plans to change.

“We got the crop up and away quickly, applying one 120kg N/ha split as soon as the crop was in rows,” says Mark.

This was followed by two sprays of the micronutrient foliar feed Delta to encourage root development, alongside a single micronutrient spray of manganese.

Next was an application of 1litre/ha of the nutrient spray Xstress, which aims to reduce abiotic stress in crops and 0.5 litres/ha of Calflux to help promote calcium delivery into the plant.

“We opted for high water rates of 200 litres/ha and a maximum of two products per tank mix to reduce crop stress,” adds Stuart.

With a fungicide spend of just £46/ha thanks to the robust nature of the variety, it was a cost-effective crop to grow. It also came with a specific weight of 56kg/hl and low screenings – key for the milling market.

Unsurprisingly, the plan is to grow more oats this year, with 160ha to be planted this spring.

“Oats fit into the rotation well. We would plant more, but a wild oat issue limits us,” notes Mark.

Overall top cereal winner

Tim Lamyman © Alan Bennett Photography

The overall top Cereal Yield Winner at this year’s YEN awards, perhaps comes as no surprise.

Lincolnshire farmer Tim Lamyman, who is the current world-record holder for the highest winter wheat and winter barley yield, won gold for his crop of winter wheat at 15.6t/ha. But this didn’t come without its challenges.

“It was an incredibly difficult year. We lost about 70ha of the farm due to flooding so it feels a bit surreal to be at the competition.

“Luckily, the other part of the farm where the YEN crops were is on a hill, so the water could run away.”

For Tim, hitting high yields is all about developing good root structure in the autumn and capturing sunlight and water effectively.

“Sunlight and water is how you capture high yields and managing this variation each season. Every time weather conditions alter, you need to react quickly, otherwise yield potential dips,” he says.

After a wet and challenging start to last season, Tim applied a new product at the T0 timing based on fulvic, humic and ulmic acid to promote biomass in the YEN crops.

The product, called Leodita, is an organic soil improver which helps absorb nutrients into the plant.

“The fulvic acid gets to work in just four hours, acting as a chelating agent, while the humic and ulmic acid have lasting effects up to three months.

“I’ve never seen a crop respond so quickly. In the oilseed rape, we could see the difference in biomass in just four days,” he says.

This is now being rolled out across 500ha of cropping this year.

Nutrition and fertiliser

Tim has stuck to a consistent nitrogen fertiliser rate of 315-320kg N/ha over the past 10 years.

He notes: “A big spend on nitrogen is essential for big yields, there’s no other way around it.”

The inclusion of boron and magnesium into micronutrition programmes is also important, as well as phosphorus later in the season to keep crops green to maximise photosynthesis.

Despite such high nitrogen inputs, fungicide spend is just £96/ha.

Tim has drastically cut back spend compared with 10 years ago, instead focusing on nutrition to maximise green leaf area and selecting varieties with good disease resistance.

The winning wheat variety this year was Champion. Tim also won gold for the highest yielding winter barley crop at 14.6t/ha with the variety Tardis, and gold with a crop of Skyway spring barley, yielding 12.9t/ha.

The 2024 YEN Award Winners

Highest cereal yield

• Gold: Tim Lamyman, Lincolnshire, 15.6t/ha

• Silver: David Passmore, Oxfordshire, 13.1t/ha

David Passmore © Alan Bennett Photography

Best % of potential cereal yield

• Gold: Annabel Hamilton, Berwickshire, 82% of 14.7t/ha

• Silver: Tim Lamyman, Lincolnshire, 71% of 22t/ha

Yield in cereal trials

Gold: Freddie Grant, Essex, sponsored by Hutchinsons, 14.4t/ha

Best % of potential yield in cereal trials

Gold: Freddie Grant, Essex, sponsored by Hutchinsons, 71% of 17.6t/ha

Best oat yield

Gold: Mark Popplewell, Lincolnshire, 11.46t/ha

Mark Popplewell © Alan Bennett Photography

Best % of potential oat yield

Gold: Simon Budden, Hampshire, 64% of 13.5t/ha

Best winter barley yield

Gold: Tim Lamyman, Lincolnshire, 14.6t/ha

Best % of potential winter barley yield

Gold: Tim Lamyman, Lincolnshire, 66% of 22t/ha

Best spring barley yield

Gold: Tim Lamyman, Lincolnshire, 12.9t/ha

Best % of potential spring barley yield

Gold: Simon Budden, Hampshire, 78% of 14.3t/ha

Regional Awards

Highest cereal yield

• Scotland: Annabel Hamilton, Berwickshire, 12t/ha
• East Midlands: Dyson Farming, Lincolnshire, 12.6t/ha
• East Anglia: Matt Fuller, Bedfordshire, sponsored by Hutchinsons, 9.6t/ha
• South East: Richard Budd, Kent, sponsored by BASF, 12.1t/ha
• Outside UK: Peter Rostgaard, Denmark, 12.2t/ha

Best % of potential cereal yield

• Scotland: Annabel Hamilton, Berwickshire, 82% of 12t/ha
• East Midlands: Dyson Farming, Lincolnshire, independent entry 66% of 10.8t/ha
• East Anglia: Matt Fuller, Bedfordshire, sponsored by Hutchinsons, 58% of 11.7t/ha
• South East: Richard Budd, Kent, sponsored by BASF, 56% of 12.1t/ha
• Outside UK: Rainer Leidik, Estonia, 57% of 10.1t/ha

Best oilseed yield (gross output)

• Gold: Richard Budd, Kent, sponsored by Yara, 7.6t/ha
• Silver: Lars Riis, Denmark, 6.4t/ha

Best % of potential oilseed yield

• Gold: Richard Budd, Kent, sponsored by Yara, 55% of 13.7t/ha
• Silver: Lars Riis, Denmark, 51% of 12.6t/ha

Pulses

Best pea quality

• Gold: Martin Stuffins, Cambridgeshire

Best pea yield stability

• Gold: David Passmore, Oxfordshire, 9% deviation from an average yield of 4.4t/ha

Best winter bean yield stability

• Gold: Robert Wright, Suffolk, 13% deviation from an average yield of 5.2t/ha

Best spring bean yield stability 

• Gold: Guy Wakeham, Cambridgeshire,  7% deviation from an average yield of 5t/ha

YEN Innovator of the year

David Fuller-Shapcott, JN Fuller-Shapcott, Roxburghshire

David Fuller-Shapcott © Alan Bennett Photography

About the YEN Conference

Nutritional excellence was the theme of this year’s YEN conference, with awards made for the first time to growers achieving the best quality peas and for consistent high yields of peas and beans.

Director and founder Prof Roger Sylvester-Bradley commented: “This last season probably won’t be remembered fondly by most growers.

“It is a testament to the growers involved in YEN who managed to achieve very good yields in 2024 despite the difficult conditions.”