Western Australian grain growers are set to benefit from a series of targeted projects focused on time of sowing in response to increasing seasonal variability.
Delivered through the Grains Research and Development Corporation's (GRDC) National Grower Network (NGN), the local projects are designed to support growers in making more informed sowing decisions in the face of shifting rainfall patterns, compressed sowing windows and climate unpredictability.
GRDC Grower Relations Manager - West, Kayla Evans, said the projects are expected to provide WA growers with improved decision-making tools for selecting optimal sowing windows. Photo: Kayla Evans
"WA growers are telling us that sowing time is one of the most critical and challenging decisions they face each season," Ms Evans said.
"These projects are about helping growers manage risk and optimise returns by understanding how different crops, varieties and management strategies perform under local conditions across a range of sowing dates."
A new two-year cereal crop phenology project in the Albany port zone led by Field Applied Research (FAR) Australia will compare winter wheat cultivars to currently adopted long spring and spring wheat, barley and oats systems.
The project builds on a previous GRDC investment, also led by FAR, investigating earlier sowing times for commercially available winter wheat varieties.
The first trials for the project are underway in Frankland River, across three sowing dates ranging from early April to mid-May.
Also new in 2025, a two-year project led by Mingenew Irwin Group is exploring the economics of late sowing options in June. It aims to equip growers in the region to make decisions about the most appropriate crop type when sowing late due to dry seasonal conditions.
The project will evaluate the profitability of short-season cultivars such as wheat, canola, lupins, chickpeas and field peas.
Trials for this project are underway this season, sown in Mingenew on heavy soil, and near Dalwallinu on light soil, during the first and third weeks of June.
Two NGN projects exploring early sown oats have also commenced in 2025.
A two-year project led by South East Premium Wheatgrowers Association (SEPWA) is investigating deeper early sowing of oats to take advantage of early moisture in the Esperance port zone.
The project will also explore seeding oats early for frost risk mitigation, and the potential use of milling oats in areas of paddocks or farms that suffer from transient waterlogging.
GRDC's National Grower Network (NGN) is a grassroots investment mechanism that ensures grower voices directly shape RD&E priorities. Photo: Evan Collis/GRDC
In the Kwinana West and Albany port zones, a one-year project led by Trent Butcher of Consult Ag will explore the potential of seeding oats early to mitigate the effects of drought.
It will investigate the relationship between biomass production, nitrogen application and grain yield across trials in three locations: Narrogin, Lake Grace and West Dale.
These new NGN projects add to a long list of GRDC investments exploring time of sowing that are underway or recently completed, including:
- Investigations in the Kwinana port zone, led by the Liebe Group, into sowing canola very early (March) following rainfall events to maximise establishment and yield potential.
- A four-year project concluding in 2025 exploring how to optimise the performance of winter wheats and how they fit into WA farming systems, led by Cropportunity.
- A project led by Stirlings to Coast Farmers exploring the suitability of early sown winter wheat to capitalise on late summer rainfall in March in the Albany Port Zone.
- An examination of the viability and productivity of late winter and early spring seeding of cereal varieties in Albany and Esperance port zones as a mitigation strategy to waterlogging, led by Stirlings to Coast Farmers and delivered in collaboration with SEPWA.
Ms Evans said the projects are expected to provide WA growers with improved decision-making tools for selecting optimal sowing windows based on seasonal forecasts and variety performance.
"The projects will help de-risk the challenges of climate volatility, generating regionally specific data to guide variety selection and management practices under changing climate conditions.
"They'll provide growers with a greater understanding of early and late sowing risks and benefits, including frost, heat, and disease implications.
"Ultimately, GRDC aims to increase growers' resilience and profitability by providing economically viable sowing options to mitigate seasonal variability."
About the National Grower Network
The National Grower Network (NGN) is GRDC's grassroots investment mechanism that ensures grower voices directly shape RD&E priorities. Through the NGN, growers, advisers and researchers collaborate to identify local production challenges and opportunities, leading to targeted, regionally relevant investments.
