In the latest instalment of Yield Watch, we saw the crop in Co Wexford being harvested and it impressed. From having severe wet patches and a sparse crop in places many would have written it off, but persistence and attention to detail brought this crop to an almost full field of plants.

In this video, farmer Isaac Wheelock tells us about how his crops are doing this harvest and how conditions are for harvesting, while agronomist George Blackburn gives a rundown on the harvest and talks about what agronomy decisions may have helped this crop.

The field that we followed for the season was a crop of KWS Scope winter wheat and it was in a wider block of fields, that all had gradual differences in treatments. The first block, which got a robust winter wheat programme on nitrogen and plant protection, came in at a yield of 3.6t/ac at about 17% moisture content.

The second field received the same programme, but had also got manganese and phosphites in early March with a drone. The fields were extremely wet and could not be travelled on.

With large areas of the crop suffering from the wet conditions, it was decided they needed nutrition to keep plants alive and improve root growth. The crop yielded 4t/ac - 0.4t/ac above the first crop.

In the third field, which we followed throughout the year, the crop was treated with a drone with the same nutrients of manganese and phosphites in early March.

It received nitrogen regularly in small amounts and a robust fungicide programme along with foliar nutrition and bio-stimulants. The crop yielded 4.5t/ac - 0.9t/ac above the first crop.

We will break down the spend on the crop, the yield and the expected income and profit in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, you can watch the harvest video below: