ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER AGRONOMY 22 Tight row spacing, high plant populations, and continued investment in the soil have helped Mark Stubbs win the UK’s Yield Enhancement Network (YEN) not once, but twice. His most recent winning harvest was a record-breaking 235 bu./ac. Stubbs, who farms in Lincolnshire, shared his growing strategy and the unique conditions that help make top yields possible to attendees of the 2026 Southwest Agriculture Conference (SWAC) in Ridgetown. Though his local conditions differ from what Canadian wheat growers face, he argues it’s still possible to achieve yield gains by experimenting on the farm and treating wheat with as much care as comparatively more lucrative crops. NARROW ROWS, HEAVY POPULATION Stubbs approaches winter wheat by lightly discing the top few inches of soil, then drilling seed in 12.5-centimetre (5-inch) spaced rows, at 500 plants per square metre. Direct drilling without seedbed preparation, says Stubbs, “does not work well at all” in his clay-loam conditions. In the case of Stubbs’ most recent YEN-winning crop, seeding occurred in mid-November. This is done to support better control of black grass, a challenging, yield-robbing weed, through the end of its late-October germination period. “Our soil temperature was five degree Celsius in November. My crop was up out of the ground in five days,” says Stubbs. “The reason we plant 500 plants per square metre is because I find I can get good tillering early on. Maybe five or six tillers on the plant,” he says. But when it comes to winter, he says those tillers will die back and only two or three tillers survive. “It’s only one in every five years where we get a season with excellent tillering. I go to 500 plants, aiming to have 1,000 heads at harvest.” Stubbs also uses banded liquid nitrogen applied via a sprayer dribble bar. To avoid scorching as much as possible, application is generally done on what he calls “miserable” days, or overnight, when temperatures are comparatively low. Sulphur is added to the liquid nitrogen as well, as Stubbs finds it makes the ammonium nitrate more nutritionally efficient for the plant, thus also helping to prevent volatilization. Passes are made at the end of February, and again just before flag leaf. “I have to be careful because I don’t want to scorch that flag leaf. It’s weather dependent. I’ve got to wait for that flag leaf to emerge. If we get miserable weather, I know I’m safe. If it looks like it's going to be a warm spell, I’ll go just before that flag leaf emerges,” he says. “My final [application] is just as the ear is starting to emerge. The final one is trying to feed everything into the head.” Matt McIntosh How a UK farmer grows 235-bushel winter wheat Lincolnshire farmer Mark Stubbs produces bin-busting yields by driving soil organic matter Yield gains in winter wheat can be achieved by experimenting on the farm and treating wheat with as much care as more lucrative crops such as corn and soybeans. There’s nothing more you can learn about yourself than from a farm trial. - Mark Stubbs “
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