Cover story 6 2022 MARKED THEfirst full season of the Great Lakes Yield Enhancement Network (YEN). There were 98 entries in the program this year from across Ontario and five American states: Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, New York, and Wisconsin. The more entrants in the Great Lakes YEN there are, the more robust and confident the insights from the data will be, both at the individual ‘benchmarking’ level and when analyzing the complete data set. SEASONAL OVERVIEW The Fall 2021 planting conditions ranged from good to poor across the Great Lakes YEN region. Some areas faced near-record rainfall that hindered the harvest of soybeans and dry beans, and delayed winter wheat planting. In these areas, soil water levels remained at field capacity for 10 to 14 days causing poor root development and winterkill. Areas that did not experience extreme wet conditions did quite well. Aside from areas that experienced poor root development due to the excessive rains, overwintering conditions were mostly favourable across the region, and winter wheat survived the winter very well. Coming out of the winter, the crop greened up, and nitrogen and herbicide applications occurred. Crop development seemed slow, as expected, with the cooler-than-normal conditions. Some areas became dry and remained dry for the duration of spring. Despite these conditions, wheat moved through the growth stages quite rapidly once the jointing stage was reached, catching many farmers off guard. In some cases the timing of split nitrogen applications, fungicide applications, and plant growth regulators were late due to rapid crop development. Insect pressure was relatively low in 2022. There were some reports of cereal leaf beetle and aphids in fields, but the majority of populations remained below threshold, and a high number of beneficial insects (ladybug and lacewing larvae) were found in fields that kept these pest populations low. Early season disease levels also remained low, with some powdery mildew and Septoria reported. Many areas lacked adequate moisture for disease development. Dry conditions persisted into flowering, lowering infection rates for Fusarium head blight and the development of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON). Nearly all the grain samples in the YEN project had low DON levels, and test weights were generally good. At harvest time, yields were variable by region. A significant area of the Great Lakes YEN region experienced drought during June, which caused concern among farmers, but once combining began, most were pleasantly surprised with their yield. Cool nights in June allowed for an extended grain fill period that translated to higher yields. SO, WHAT DOES THE DATA TELL US? The Great Lakes YEN is not simply a competition. It is an opportunity for farmers to learn more about individual fields, their crop’s development over the season, and their agronomy practices by diving deep into their collected data over the season. Comparing the top 20 per cent of entries to the bottom 20 per cent, yields ranged in fields in the 2022 growing season from 89 bushels/acre to 139 bushels/acre, a 50-bushel difference. The average grain yield for all participants was 116 bushels/acre. Big wins for wheat SUCCESSFUL SEASON FOR GREAT LAKES YEN Jennifer Leslie continued on page 8 • The Great Lakes YEN was created in partnership with Grain Farmers of Ontario, Michigan State University, Michigan Wheat Program, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the University of Guelph. • There were 98 entrants to the Great Lakes YEN program from Ontario, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, New York, and Wisconsin. • The Great Lakes YEN is an opportunity for farmers to learn more by diving deep into their collected data over the season. • Data indicates that a 200 bushels/acre yield is possible almost anywhere — high yields are not restricted to a single part of the Great Lakes region. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW 89 193 47 59 139 198 70 61 0 50 100 150 200 250 Yield Yield Potential % Yield Potential Test Weight TOP 20 / BOTTOM 20 PER CENT (BU/AC) IN 2022 GREAT LAKES YEN. Top 20 Bottom 20
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