The winners of the annual Yield Enhancement Network Awards for cereals and oilseeds have been announced, after the awards ceremony went online for the first time last week. Charlotte Cunningham reports.

Held in conjunction with the Croptec Show and hosted this year by Teresa Meadows of AHDB and CPM’s Tom Allen-Stevens, 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.

Despite a challenging year on the weather front, the competition was tight, yields were high, and many growers achieved close to the full potential of their land – some even exceeded it, according to YEN.

“Although fewer growers found good crops to enter, this year saw some amazing yield achievements,” says Roger Sylvester-Bradley, YEN founder. “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.”

Full winners list:

Cereal YEN

Best yield (field)                                                                                                        

  • GOLD: Tim Lamyman of Lincs, Independent entry 15.6 t/ha
  • SILVER: Tim Lamyman of Lincs, 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 Lincs, 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 Oxon, sponsored by Bayer           13.1 t/ha

Best % of potential yield (trials)                                                                            

  • GOLD: Ben Giles in Oxon, 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 Northum, sponsored by Hutchinsons 14.6 t/ha
  • East Midlands: Tim Lamyman of Lincs, independent entry 15.6 t/ha
  • East Anglia: Richard Means of Cambs, 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 Northumb, 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 Lincs, 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 Northum, 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[1]) (field)                                                                            

  • GOLD: Tim Lamyman of Lincs, independent entry 7.01 t/ha
  • SILVER: Mark Stubbs of Lincs, 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 Lincs, independent entry        69% of 10.2 t/ha
  • SILVER: Mark Stubbs of Lincs, 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, to:

  • Chris Eglington of Norfolk

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

[1] Seed yield adjusted for oil content