New harvest reports have hit the shelves to help inform sowing guides

The Grain Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) has released its 16 National Variety Trials harvest reports, aiming to help grain growers' decision-making.

The reports have disease guides, yields and other results across key regions, including the Mallee, Wimmera, northern Victoria, Tasmania and high-rainfall areas.

GRDC National Variety Trials southern manager Trevor Garnett said for the Victorian cropping region, carry-over soil moisture paired with reduced disease pressure led to yields "comparable to 2022".

He said this was despite greatly reduced in-season rainfall.

"The longer-term yield performance is important because performance in one season, such as a very wet 2022, does not always reflect the long-term performance of a variety in a region," he said.

"With independent information on yield performance, quality and disease responses of varieties, the harvest reports support growers and advisers making decisions on variety selection in the local region.

"The 2023 harvest reports also contain information on 31 new varieties released over the last 12 months."

He said the new varieties include nine wheat, two barley, four oat, 12 canola, two lupin, one lentil and one new field pea variety.

There are 108 trials across different Victorian environments.

"For most of these new varieties, growers and advisers are already able to see performance over multiple years because of their presence in the NVT program as breeding lines in the years prior to their release," Dr Garnett said.

"The 2023 season was a more typical grain growing season with shorter season varieties, better adapted to a dry finish, topping yields as compared with the 2022 season where longer season/slower maturing varieties, which could take advantage of the wet finish to the season, topped the yield tables.