Sowing windows for oats in NVT trial have been moved

The program aims to have its sowing window as close to what farmers have, to make the information produced by the trial as reliable as possible, said NVT manager (west) Isabelle Rogers.

However, it came to the NVT's attention the oat trial was multiple weeks late in sowing each year, due to changing agricultural conditions.

"These windows are set around what is happening in the local area- ideally it's planted the same day, if not as close as possible to the growers' paddock," Ms Rogers said.

The discrepancy between the NVT trials and grower timing was highlighted by one of the breeding companies working with Ms Rogers, and the possibility of bringing the window forward was raised.

After going through the management processes, the NVT decided it would be "hugely beneficial to the quality of the data" to move forward the window by one or two weeks, depending on the region.

"It was noticeable that they were much more in time with the surrounding growers," Ms Rogers said.

There are multiple different reasons why seeding for oats has started earlier, with the climate definitely being a factor.

"When you plant your crop, you want it to rain as soon as possible after that, so climate absolutely plays an impact," Ms Rogers said.

"But there's also the genetics of the crops - when they're expecting them to be planted, and how long they're going to grow for."

The agricultural technology boom has also played a large role in seeding times, as farmers now have a plethora of different options when it comes to looking after their crops.

"Our understanding of the application of chemicals and fertilisers has changed and what technology is available to you can change your understanding of when things should be planted," Ms Rogers said.

For oats, NVT worked closely with oat breeder InterGrain to understand agronomic preferences, especially around germination windows, which were subsequently moved forward by another one to two weeks (region specific) for 2022 following ratification by the NACs and other industry participants.

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InterGrain oat breeder Dr Allan Rattey said the germination windows were the agreed time period that NVTs should be sown within, and act as the guide in determining which germplasm is suitable in which trials.

This means that sowing dates for NVT have adjusted to better reflect grower practice across the country.

GRDC established the NVT in 2005 - providing a one-stop shop for accurate, consistent, independent and timely information on variety performance.

The NVT covers 10 different grain varieties and each year the Grains Research and Development Corporation manages more than 650 trial sites across 300 locations across Australia.

In 2022 this included 30 oat trials, making it the largest independent organised trial program in the world.

Ms Rogers highly encouraged any farmers who think the NVT can be improved to contact the program, as they only know through feedback how they can improve.

This last year has proven they are willing to take feedback on board to improve the trial, so anyone involved in the industry who had ideas on how to make it better was encouraged to reach out.

"The NVT is continually evolving, so growers are more than welcome to reach out to us and say, 'hey I really think this trial was so unlikely in this paddock, because we have all been sowing three weeks earlier for the last three years,'" she said.

"We work to stay in line with the industry and grow our practice, and the only way we really know about that is people tell us that they think it might be changing."