Some of Scotland’s top arable farmers recently visited record-breaking farmers in Lincolnshire to find out how they achieve their yields, according to AHDB.
The Scottish YEN Growers Group, made up of farmers who are part of the Yield Enhancement Network (YEN), visited Lincs growers, Tim Lamyman and David Hoyle, as well as the Rothamsted Research Institute.
“David Hoyle focuses on running his farm as a business where poorly performing crops are quickly replaced while Tim Lamyman’s focus is more about how to get his crops yielding as high as they possibly can,” said AHDB who support YEN, which is run by ADAS.
“At Rothamsted the group saw the organisation’s sample room, where samples from all the long running experiments are kept (going back to the 1800s). The Institute boasts the world’s longest running experiment called ‘winter wheat grown in different ways’, which has been on the go since 1876.
The visit highlighted some of the ways growers can increase their yields, according to ADAS scientist ,Sarah Kendall.
“We’ve analysed all the YEN data and one of the consistent things we are finding is that crops with high ear numbers are positively associated with yield,” she said.
“Also, we take samples of the crop at harvest, and that has shown us that crops with a high biomass are positively associated with yield. So really we should be managing the crop with those targets in mind.”
Pictured above: YEN group members visit Tim Lamymans’ farm
