Call for YEN growers to repeat last year’s success

April 13, 2022

Following on from the success of CAFRE Business Development Group (BDG) members in last year’s Yield Enhancement Network (YEN) competition, arable BDG group members are once again being encouraged to take up the offer of participation in this year’s programme. 

Robin Bolton, Senior CAFRE Crops Advisor explained that “YEN is co-ordinated by ADAS and provides physical benchmarking of cereal crop growth against known standards and other growers across the UK.  The main aim of the project is to improve understanding of crop growth and what contributes to or limits yield“.

Alongside the knowledge transfer activities a competition is held to encourage participation.   Prizes are awarded for best yield in each crop category and best yield as a percentage of a theoretical yield for the area the crop is grown, based on local conditions. 

Last year the CAFRE BDG entrants had good success, with David Matthews, Newtownards, winning best yield and best % of potential yield for his Spring Barley field. Simon Best, Poyntzpass, won best yield for his Winter Oats entry and Richard Dempsey, Coleraine, had the second highest yielding field of Spring Beans. 

These were great achievements as entries were from across all of the UK and even some from as far away as Denmark and Canada.  Our congratulations go to these growers and we wish all entrants success with this year’s crop, and hope that all those involved gain much from the information and feedback they get about their crop growth.