Recent content by Leslie

Q: What is the quickest way to increase your worms numbers, especially the deep burrowing ones? A: Minimum or no till has been proven to favour development of Lumbricus terrestris earthworms whose burrows generally extend from the soil surface to the deepest root (1 to 2 m depth)...

Q: What management practice allowed one entrant to capture 68% light capture whereas most other entrants never got that close A: The Oilseed YEN entrant which achieved 68% light interception did so by producing a high biomass (18.8 t/ha). However, this entrant had a low harvest index of 26%...

Q: Biomass and shoot numbers were generally low last year,given this situation how could growers have increased biomass and shoot numbers ? A: There are numerous different methods which can be used to promote biomass and shoot numbers, these include: Earlier sowing to improve crop...

Here is an update from @Roger Sylvester-Bradley describing new grant funding (EIP Agri – European money administered through Defra) for crop trials to encourage improved farm productivity. Great new chance for YEN farmers to get involved with scope for 48 new trials by the end of 2019. ADAS is...

Participants at the YEN awards event back in November asked some great questions which were raised via the Sli-do system. We didn't have time to get through them on the day so promised to share them and to provide responses. The ADAS team have given these questions some thought and will be...

Participants at the YEN awards event back in November asked some great questions which were raised via the Sli-do system. We didn't have time to get through them on the day so promised to share them and to provide responses. The ADAS team have given these questions some thought and will be...

Martin Smart scooped two gold medals in the YEN oilseed rape competition achieving 6.4 tonnes per hectare, and 72 percent of his potential yield, Jens Blomquist, Svensk Frötidning In edition 6/17 of Svensk Frötidning we wrote about Martin Smart, winter oilseed grower in southwest England...

Here is some information about last year's YEN results - Average YEN entrant cereal yield for 2017 was 11 t/ha with an average Harvest Index (HI) of 0.57 and biomass of 16.4 t/ha (Table 1). This was up from the previous year in 2016 but is not an increase from the first three YEN competitions...

Here is the link to get registered for this year's Yield Enhancement Network competition. http://www.yen.adas.co.uk/Home.aspx All you need to know is on the YEN website including the science behind increasing yields, insights from farmer winners, key dates for data collection, photos...

Here's feedback we got from YEN members describing why they joined the YEN network. We'll follow this up to explain what benefits farmers have got by participating in the network and the competition. We'd love to have input from YEN members, What is working for you? Why would you recommend...

As arable farmers strive to reduce costs of production to combat volatility and possible loss of farm subsidy, one of the key strategies is to maximise yield to spread those costs. With yields plateauing over recent years, the ADAS YEN programme seeks to explore new science and cultivate sharing...

The YEN steering committee is meeting next week. This is when we plan the year ahead to make the network even more valuable to participants. It would be great to have your ideas on what topics you want us to focus on. http://www.yen.adas.co.uk/About.aspx

If you participated in the Yield Enhancement Network competition this year, we would really like your feedback on how we did. What did you most/least appreciate? What would you like us to focus on in 2018? Please take a few minutes to complete this online feedback form. Your input will...