The Grains Research & Development Corporation will call tenders soon for national,  independent, pre-release assessment of new crop varieties.

John Harvey, the GRDC’s executive manager, program operations, says the corporation’s move into crop variety testing is a response to grower calls for credible information in Australia’s new, market-driven crop breeding environment.

“Historically, growers relied on the state agricultural departments to test new varieties and provide comparative performance data at their release from the departmental breeding programs,” Mr Harvey said.

“The system had to change once the public sector wheat breeding programs – with the support of the GRDC – consolidated into three competing groups and private sector  wheat breeding entities announced they  intended to compete for market share.

“This combination of industry restructuring and the move to greater commercialisation led to widespread grower concerns that there no longer is an industry standard for comparing new varieties and disseminating information about their performance. 

“Growers have told us they want independent, credible information so they can make informed planting choices

“Through the GRDC, growers have provided considerable investment support for variety assessment by the state departments, which have been involved in testing to different extents, and with different approaches and cost efficiencies.”

Mr Harvey said the GRDC was still finalising its plans for the testing arrangements, with consultant Andreas Betzner in discussions with grower groups, the corporation’s three regional panels, current and potential providers of crop variety testing and the breeding companies themselves.

It aimed to have a national testing system in place by the end of the financial year, allowing in-ground trials to begin in the winter crop season of 2005.

Demands on the system would grow as the system bedded down, with initial testing requirements being for yield by environment, minimum receival standards in protein levels, falling numbers  and screenings.

Quality testing and classification would remain the domain of the breeding companies while the confidentiality  of varieties from the competing breeding programs would be guaranteed by all test lines being entered anonymously in the trials.