ADAS has announced the end of an era as its flagship Yield Enhancement Network (YEN) for cereals and oilseeds winds down after 13 years of driving record-breaking yields and industry collaboration.
Launched in 2012, the YEN initiative has been a cornerstone of knowledge-sharing in arable farming, helping growers better understand their crop yields and uncover the limiting factors behind them.
However, declining financial backing has made it unviable to continue supporting the cereals and oilseeds strands of the project beyond this growing season.
Professor Roger Sylvester-Bradley, founder of YEN and head of crop performance at the consultancy, said the initiative had been a fantastic driving force for arable industry collaboration.
He said: “The vast YEN dataset, comprising thousands of crop yields built over so many harvests, has enabled us to pinpoint the causes behind yield variation – weather is only part of the puzzle.
"YEN provided us with definitive proof that, with a detail-oriented farming approach, 15 t/ha winter wheat yields are feasible almost anywhere in the UK.
“Nonetheless, the work of YEN was only possible thanks to the goodwill and financial support of sponsors who have contributed to its development for the last thirteen years. Without ongoing support, the YEN could not continue in its present form.”
While the cereals and oilseeds networks are winding down, ADAS has confirmed that its YENs for peas and beans – run in partnership with the Processors and Growers Research Organisation (PGRO) – will continue.
Other related initiatives such as YEN Nutrition, a grain analysis and benchmarking service, and YEN Zero, a crop carbon benchmarking network, are also set to carry on.
The YEN brand has become synonymous with its annual awards, which have celebrated record-breaking yields and industry-leading best practice.
Notably, Lincolnshire grower Tim Lamyman broke world records for winter wheat and winter barley, achievements announced at the 2022 YEN Awards.
More broadly, YEN participants consistently outperformed national averages. In 2024, YEN’s average winter wheat yield stood at 10.3t/ha, significantly higher than the UK average of 7.3t/ha.
“Some farmers involved in YEN have had incredible successes, but all farmers involved have used YEN to work towards their own personal bests,” said Prof Sylvester-Bradley.
“The power of YEN is that, by sharing data between farms, we could analyse in great detail how these growers managed to achieve those exceptional yields, and then share lessons learnt with other members to go and apply on their own farms.”
Although ending in the UK, the YEN model is gaining traction internationally, with networks now active in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand.
