Australia
April 9, 2009
Commercial scale variety trials
vital to the future of the grains industry will be improved
following an extensive consultative review by the
Grains Research and Development
Corporation (GRDC).
NVT is managed by the Australian Crop Accreditation System
Limited (ACAS) under a service agreement with GRDC and involves
more than 580 trials sown at over 250 locations each year.
Crops tested include wheat, barley, triticale, oats, canola,
lupins, lentils, field peas, faba beans and chickpeas.
Dr Juan Juttner, GRDC project manager pre-breeding says the
review, planned at the establishment of the National Variety
Trials (NVT) in 2005, incorporated more than 360 group and
individual submissions.
The review involved targeted surveys and interviews with NVT
management and extension providers, key industry groups
including grower representative bodies, rural advisory
committees, plant breeding organisations, agronomists and trial
service providers.
It also included a process for open submissions and a range of
individual growers, research and extension officers, marketers
and bulk handlers made representations. This was particularly
well supported in the northern region.
“Consultation with NVT stakeholders from across the industry has
been highly beneficial to the future of the trials.
“Every group or individual who provided a submission or was
involved in the review received a summary of the review’s
outcomes. The summary is also available for download from the
GRDC website,” Dr Juttner said.
“Many comments indicated a need for a formalised mechanism for
stakeholder involvement in NVT operations.
“An advisory committee system across Australia will now be
established to provide input into the trials to ensure the NVT
system continues to improve its delivery of key data to
stakeholders.”
Dr Juttner said the second, five-year round of NVT, to be
launched in 2010, would see a continued improvement in
communication of results to growers and advisers.
“The review helped identify ways to strengthen and expand the
role NVT plays in providing reliable information about the
performance of new varieties to growers, consultants and
breeders,” he said.
Dr Juttner says separate committees will be established for
wheat, barley and coarse grains, canola, and pulses.
“GRDC will appoint three representatives from among growers or
grower groups; one representative each from the west, north and
south growing regions on each of these four committees,” he
says.
Nominations for committee membership will be called for later
this year.
Where a committee may lack the expertise to address a specific
issue, Dr Juttner says a mechanism will exist for GRDC to seek
further external advice.
“Advisory committees are the main innovation to the NVT program
following the review and the solution addresses many of the
issues raised during the industry consultation,” he says.
Trial standards are also to be improved, with GRDC accepting the
need to audit every NVT trial site at least once every year,
starting in 2009.
“The idea is to identify, early, those trial sites that are
problematic, and to take appropriate measures to ensure that no
data from a poor site erodes the data matrix.”
Service providers to the NVT program can also expect to see GRDC
reinforce staged payments and penalties built into the next
funding period. In recognition of growth in the service provider
sector, the GRDC expects to hold open, multi-stage tenders.
Additional changes are in the pipeline, including making trial
results available in hardcopy, possibly through the state
departments that are producing sowing guides.
All the issues raised and recommendations made can be viewed by
downloading a summary of the NVT Review Report from the GRDC
website at
www.grdc.com.au/director/events/onfarmtrials/nvtreview |
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