Analyse your grain this harvest for all 12 nutrients

We've now opened registration for YEN Nutrition to measure and improve your crop nutrition - see https://www.yen.adas.co.uk/projects/yen-nutrition

Cost £250 plus VAT for analysis & benchmarking of 6 fields, £40 for extra fields.

We are keen to hear what you think of this new service and network.
YEN NUTRITION header (3) (1).png
 

Steevo

Member
Location
Gloucestershire
I didn’t realise it was new….

But anyway!

It’s all very well having this data, but can you actually do anything with it? If my grain is low is X or Y…..

1. Why has that happened?
2. Can I do anything within my control to address that?
3. If so at a reasonable cost?
4. What about next year - conditions may be totally different?

The cynic in me questions who really benefits from this harvested data paid for and collected by farmers.

Plenty of farmers have pretty yield maps stuffed in the drawer, but can they profit from that themselves.
 
We've developed our systems for 2021 harvest, we started last year... so still fairly new! Especially keen to get feedback from those involved in our first year.

Your questions are exactly the right ones - getting nutrition right is about the strategic decisions that influence how much of each nutrient is available from the soil. So if we don't measure whats getting in to the crop how can we know if we are getting it right or not? Ultimately you do have at least some control of the availability of nutrients. We don't have all the answers. What to do and whether its worth it are the crucial questions ... we are planning to form 'Nutrition Clubs' to ask these questions together, testing on farm and sharing the results.

The seasonal question is really important - that's why we think the year-on-year benchmarking is so valuable, so you can see how you compare to others within the season, and so we can identify if particular nutrients are generally low or high in a particular year - for example Boron was low across the board last year in wheat - was that just a seasonal effect, or does it indicate a wider issue. Can we find any evidence that additional boron applications made a difference?

The uncertainties in nutrient supplies and offtakes are large, we calculate that just getting a better estimate of your P & K offtakes should pay for the cost of YEN Nutrition in providing more accurate maintenance applications.

I can assure you that we aren't getting rich from the data in the YENs! The dataset is now becoming a unique and valuable resource to conduct analyses and generate insights, but so far it is woefully under-exploited. Any findings generated from the YEN dataset are shared back with the YEN community.
 

An Gof

Member
Location
Cornwall
I didn’t realise it was new….

But anyway!

It’s all very well having this data, but can you actually do anything with it? If my grain is low is X or Y…..

1. Why has that happened?
2. Can I do anything within my control to address that?
3. If so at a reasonable cost?
4. What about next year - conditions may be totally different?

The cynic in me questions who really benefits from this harvested data paid for and collected by farmers.

Plenty of farmers have pretty yield maps stuffed in the drawer, but can they profit from that themselves.

I used this service last year and I think it is probably the most valuable analysis service you can do. It throws up a wealth of information and is invaluable in highlighting minor element requirements. Much more valuable in my opinion than tissue testing and better value for money for one grain same than multiple tissue tests through a season.
We have a group here that have been using this data associated with a local monitor farm and when you combine your data and compare with neighbours it becomes more interesting. I would strongly recommend it.
 

britt

Member
BASE UK Member
Testing the grain makes far more sense to me than soil tests. Soil analysis varies through the season as crops remove nutrients as they grow, but fungi provide it as and when the conditions are right for them. When you test has a big impact on results.
 
I used this service last year and I think it is probably the most valuable analysis service you can do. It throws up a wealth of information and is invaluable in highlighting minor element requirements. Much more valuable in my opinion than tissue testing and better value for money for one grain same than multiple tissue tests through a season.
We have a group here that have been using this data associated with a local monitor farm and when you combine your data and compare with neighbours it becomes more interesting. I would strongly recommend it.

Thanks An Gof - really appreciate this feedback
 
Yes An Gof - I'm sure Steevo's feelings above represent lots of people - but (from an old scientist's viewpoint .. who is slowly seeing how to cope with all of farming's huge variability) the value of farm data only really comes through choosing to share it .. whether in discussion with neighbours .. or en masse through the wonders of the internet! You can read about some of the general lessons from the people who shared last year's grain analyses by joining (at no cost) YEN here: https://www.yen.adas.co.uk/register, ticking YEN Nutrition (still at no cost), and then reading our YEN Nutrition Seasonal Summary (click link under PRIVATE CONTENT FOR THIS YEN). But the real value in terms of learnings (which, like soil analysis, are general to your field and farm, not specific to the next crop) comes when you agree to see your own data (anonymised for everyone else) alongside everyone else's.
 

Brid @ ADAS

Member
Grassland Exhibitor
Anyone else in the wider cropping group considering grain analysis this year? If you had questions coming up to harvest, do ask and we'll try to answer
 

Stephen E

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
South Northants
Presumably to draw useful conclusions, you would need to sample grain from each different soil type across the farm to link nutrient deficiencies with those specific areas.
 
Not just differences in soil type that will be important but also differences in management history. We are suggesting analysing each field - 6 fields included in the membership as standard. As well as identifying deficiencies in individual we also think you can learn about nutrition levels for the farm as a whole, as we are seeing substantial differences between farms.
 
Presumably to draw useful conclusions, you would need to sample grain from each different soil type across the farm to link nutrient deficiencies with those specific areas.
Its not just differences in soil type that will be important but also differences in management history. We are suggesting analysing each field - 6 fields included in the membership as standard. As well as identifying deficiencies in individual we also think you can learn about nutrition levels for the farm as a whole, as we are seeing substantial differences between farms.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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