YEN Wheat Quality Award winners triumph over challenging season

Focus and attention to detail shone through at the Yield Enhancement Network (YEN), Wheat Quality Awards 2021.

The YEN Gold Award for harvest 2020 was announced as Simon Budden of Netherley Farm Partnership in Hampshire. The awards, sponsored by UK Flour Millers, recognise excellence and innovation in achieving high yield and quality in Group 1 milling wheats.

The YEN Wheat Quality Award top 3 are:

First Place: Simon Budden, Netherley Farm Partnership, Hampshire.

Second Place: James Mayes, Bentfield Bury Farms, Essex.

Third Place: James Loder-Symonds, Nonington Farms, Kent.

Simon’s entry yielded 11.98t/ha with a protein yield of 1.32t/ha. In the assessment of his entry, it was noted that this entry demonstrated excellent grain analytical quality. Dough quality was good, and the baked loaf was excellent, with white breadcrumb colour and texture.

Simon said: “We are very pleased to have entered into the YEN Competition. The most important part of it is the YEN report we get at the end.

“This year we entered wanting to showcase our normal farm practice. The report provides a lot of detail for us to take forward and look ahead to next season to hopefully improve on our yields.”

As part of AHDB Milling Wheat Week (23-35 Feb), three webinars in partnership with UK Flour Millers (formerly nabim) and ADAS delivered on technical insights, supply chain & policy and finally the YEN Awards.

The webinars emphasised the importance of growing quality wheat, taking advantage of the latest market information and best practice examples from individuals and organisations throughout the milling wheat supply chain.

Dr Sarah Clarke, ADAS Research Scientist, said: “Last season was a very challenging one for growers, so it was great to see some really high-quality entries. Whatever the season brings, growers can benchmark and learn more about their quality from entering the YEN Wheat Quality Competition. They can also think about carrying out tramline trials for nutrition programmes to see what could be achieved on their farm.”

Joe Brennan, Senior Technical Adviser for UK Flour Millers, said: “This was the fourth year of the competition and it is reassuring that despite the differences season to season, there are growers who achieve excellent wheat yields alongside fantastic breadmaking quality. Recognising and understanding how growers accomplish this is key to ensuring a steady supply of domestic wheat for the milling market.”

The top three farmers produced a video commentary on their harvest 2020 entries. You can view the video below.

Judith Stafford, AHDB Knowledge Exchange Manager, said: “Once again AHDB welcomes the opportunity to be supporting the YEN Wheat Quality Awards. This competition provides a great opportunity for milling wheat growers to learn from each other, to develop best practice and to share it.

“I applaud the winners for their willingness to detail their growing and budding practices and for making it available for everyone else to examine. It is incredibly useful not only for what it can tell you about your normal growing practice but also for encouraging growers to try different ways of doing things, to be innovative. In these particularly challenging conditions, which seem to be becoming the norm, this becomes even more important.”

For further information about the YEN Wheat Quality Award visit: www.ahdb.org.uk/mwc

Simon Budden, Netherley Farm Partnership, Hampshire with his 1st place trophy