The artificial shade setup reproduces the effect of a heterogeneous spatio-temporal light environment at the seasonal and daily time scale. Modelling allows predicting light availability over 50 years old tree rotation with an E-W and N-S tree line orientation. Reducing global radiation from 10–16 days before flowering until final harvest reduces the final grain and protein yield of winter wheat. This reduction in yield was due to both a reduction of the average grain weight and in the number of grain per m2.