The Yield Watch series will conclude at Tillage Day. Throughout 2026 Yield Watch followed a crop of winter wheat on Isaac Wheelock’s Farm in Co Wexford.

Isaac aimed to push the crop as far as he could this season and was advised all along the way by agronomist George Blackburn of Cooney Furlong Grain.

Isaac is focused on growing yielding crops and the theory that you have to spend money to make money.

On the day, the yield of the crop will be revealed and we will take a look at the spend and the return from the crop. Isaac, George and John Dunne of Goldcrop will chat through the year gone by. What went well? What would they do differently? What can other farmers take from the series?

The field the crop of KWS Scope was planted in has been in minimum-tillage for 20 years. It has received plenty of organic manures over time and has a lively soil biology.

The season was not without its challenges from very wet to very dry weather. Over a very wet winter and spring, the crop sat in water and springs left floods and streams in parts of the field.

Unable to travel, Isaac got a drone in to apply some nutrition in the spring time and this is thought to have kept poor patches of the crop alive.

Little and often was the approach on nitrogen applications and there was plenty of foliar nutrition applied along the way. George focuses on keeping crops healthy to fight disease.

A full fungicide programme was implemented with Isaac paying particular attention to timings to ensure prevention and good control.

The field was spotless throughout the year.

As the dry weather set in at the end of June there was an earlier harvest than expected and this likely robbed some yield potential from the crop.

We will chat through the challenge on Tillage Day, 5 November.