GROWERS from around the country who chose to take part in the Grains Research and Development Corporation's (GRDC) inaugural hyper yielding crops (HYC) awards initiative are about to find out just how hyper their crops really faired against fellow competitors.
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Five seminars are planned to take place in June where winners of the GRDC's HYC inaugural awards will be announced.
There will be two awards per region - overall highest wheat yield and highest wheat yield based on per cent of yield potential.
To enable a community approach to the HYC concept, the awards program was established in 2020 aiming to enable growers to benchmark the agronomic performance of their crops compared to a regional standard.
More than 50 crops were entered into the 2020 wheat HYC awards spanning from the Albany port zone through to Tasmania.
TechCrop HYC national extension co-ordinator Jon Midwood, along with each region's project officer, will present the awards and provide growers and advisers with a report interpretation including the potential yield calculations for each region.
There will also be a chance for open discussion on lessons learnt in 2020.
FAR Australia managing director and HYC project lead Nick Poole will co-present with research director Kenton Porker and HYC field research officers on findings from the 2020 research trials.
"We are extremely excited to hear of the HYC's inaugural award winners and the agronomic practices they adopted to reach these goals," Mr Poole said.
"Our year one trial results will not only focus on the yields achieved, but will also touch on climate statistics and what these meant for each crop, what management strategies worked best for disease management, the impact of artificial nitrogen and the interaction between genotype, environment and management and how these interactions affected the phenology, biomass, final grain yields and overall profit margins.
"We hope that we can learn from these findings and as a result build on our yield potentials and margins in the years to come."
The HYC awards will remain focused on wheat for 2021 and the project team is developing a plan whereby growers and advisers from outside the current regions can enter crops into the GRDC HYC awards program.
It is hoped that by expanding the HYC awards it will generate greater interest and collaboration in the quest for higher yields.
The WA event is set to be held on Thursday, June 10 at the Green Range Country Club, near Albany.
