Yield enhancement is a BIG jigsaw, by Roger Sylvester-Bradley (ADAS)
As always, YEN’s 12th conference was inspiring. A Rolls Royce technical event – 60% of attendees were farmers and agronomists – often the best, as evidenced by their achievements – plus fully-focused researchers and journalists, engaged in broad discussion. It was a privilege to attend.
But, on reflection, YEN reveals a BIG puzzle. It annually records many yields exceeding 14 t/ha; they come from all over the UK and Northern Europe. Yet YEN yields have always been hugely variable, and overall they lack convincing signs of progress.
Higher crop yields are needed urgently – to secure food supplies, to keep farms financially viable and to spare land for non-food purposes. Why can’t farms, even the best farms, build yield-progress from all those data, explanations and ideas that YEN has amassed? There’s no ceiling stopping us; we almost always see a big gap below yield potential. Is it lack of confidence? .. fear of change? … incomplete understanding? … weak belief? .. or insufficient time? I have enjoyed all 12 YEN conferences with optimism, but also with increasing frustration. Should I be more patient? Is 12 years too soon to expect farms to work out how to mimic the best? Maybe it is an impossibly large jigsaw, with too many pieces to sort out?
We know now what high yielding wheat crops look like – they have over 500 heads per m2 and roots able to access 2 metres of moist soil so their canopies can remain green throughout July. So why can’t farms increasingly work out how to mimic this more often, and move the YEN average upwards from ~11 t/ha?
The idea behind this YEN conference was to explore whether better nutrition management might solve a big part of the puzzle. YEN data shows nutrient status at harvest varies as much or more than YEN yields. The pie-diagram shows 90% of YEN wheat crops had at least one nutrient below its ‘Thresholds of Concern’ (or ToC). So YEN has spawned a European Thematic Network called ‘NUTRI-CHECK NET’ to identify best ways of managing crop nutrition. Nutritional issues will be a key focus of further YEN reflections in this series, but meanwhile, please offer your own reflections in the comments on how you think we can enhance crop yields.
Pie-diagram showing %s of YEN wheat crops with none, 1, 2, 3 or more grain nutrients at levels less than their ‘Threshold of Concern’ (ToC).
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