By Tom York, Agricultural Management Consultant, Wilson Wraight LLP

The farms spending most on winter wheat in 2025 did not achieve the strongest gross margins.

That does not mean inputs should be cut. It raises a more useful question: what did the extra spend actually deliver?

The finding in one minute

Across the last ten harvests, higher variable costs have not consistently produced stronger wheat margins. Yield remains critical, but spending, marketing and management determine how effectively that yield is converted into profit.

In the Harvest 2025 sample, the higher-spending group incurred almost £300/ha more in variable costs. It achieved a modest yield advantage, but not enough extra output to recover the additional cost.

More spend did not mean more margin.

Was soil type the explanation?

We tested that challenge within one of the largest broad soil groups in the dataset. On medium soils, the higher-spending group averaged £768/ha of variable costs against £486/ha for the lower-spending group. Yield improved only from 7.33 t/ha to 7.54 t/ha, while gross margin fell from £760/ha to £615/ha.

So what really drives wheat margin?

Yield remains critical. But once similar-yielding farms are compared, cost control, operational efficiency, marketing, and particularly price, matter far more. Across a longer timeframe, wheat price may have influenced gross margin as much as many production variables receiving greater scrutiny.

Are we sometimes over-analysing production and under-analysing marketing?

That is a question that WW Intelligence will explore in future articles.

A benchmark shows where a difference exists. WW Intelligence helps explain why. By combining Wilson Wraight’s benchmarking data with practical farm-business insights, it helps businesses test whether expenditure delivered value and focus on the decisions most likely to improve performance.

Want the detail? Read the full WW Intelligence PDF here or speak to the team about placing your own Harvest 2026 results alongside the evidence.

Start a conversation through the Wilson Wraight contact page, email tyork@wilsonwraight.co.uk, or call 07498 162581.