For the second year running, the enthusiasm and clear vision, combined with the determination to reach high productivity goals are just some of the traits of the Grains Research & Development Corporation’s (GRDC) Hyper Yielding Crops (HYC) award-winning growers.

A national roadshow kicked off in Rutherglen, VIC last night to announce the NSW/N VIC HYC award winners for the 2021 season and to share what the HYC project has achieved to date in the region.

Damien Schneider farms at Warrawillah, Culcairn in NSW. Harvested on 21st December 2021, Mr Schneider achieved his hyper yielding crop of 8.87 t/ha off 44 ha of the wheat variety Rockstar, which was just enough for him to earn the HYC award for ‘Highest Yield’ in the region. The same crop also saw Mr Schneider be presented with the second HYC award which was for ‘Highest % of Yield Potential’ in this competition.

The crop was sown on 8th May 2021 into a loamy sand soil following canola with a single disc seed drill. Despite very low rainfall in April which caused some delays and staggered germination, the above average winter rainfall in the region meant the crops were able to progress with no excess water in the winter months to cause waterlogging issues. The average July and below average August also allowed good conditions for applications of herbicides, fungicides and fertiliser.

Inputs included several applications of nitrogen-based fertiliser throughout the growing season with carefully considered and strategic timings for fungicide and herbicide applications.

Harvesting conditions for the award paddocks in Southern New South Wales were wet. This caused delayed harvest in some cases and downgrading of some canola, wheat and barley crops. Some paddocks where flooded, with crops not harvested until 6-8 weeks after the optimum period. Despite this challenging harvest, the season has widely been considered as the best ever in the region.

Nick Poole, FAR Australia’s Managing Director and HYC project lead, said this HYC initiative, now in its second year, has inspired others to push crop yield boundaries in their region.

“This GRDC national investment has and continues to support grain growers who want to push their grain yields, both economically and sustainably to the next level,” Mr Poole said.

“The 2020 season award winners clearly demonstrated the kind of drive and vision to push yield potential which has encouraged others to participate in the HYC awards programme. The HYC project has also given growers the confidence to consider adoption of different germplasm and agronomic management tactics which are proving successful in delivering greater productivity and profitability on farm.

“On behalf of the HYC project team I would like to congratulate Damien for achieving this award winning wheat yield, and for the second year running choosing to be involved in a community that is networked by their interest to increase productivity and profitability.

“I would also like to add my thanks to all the growers who entered the HYC awards in the 2021 season. Our aim is to continue to develop a participatory approach to the project to enable growers interested in increasing productivity to become involved. We were delighted with the interest in years one and two of the project and hope we can only build on the participation in the research and the adoption over the remaining years of the project.”

Hosted by FAR Australia, project lead for the GRDC’s national Hyper Yielding Crops initiative, the six-week national roadshow will recognise a number of hard-working and innovative cropping farmers who have achieved some of the highest yielding wheat crops across the high rainfall zones of Australia. In addition, growers and advisers will discuss and debate the latest research results coming out of the project. To ensure you don’t miss out on the opportunity to hear first-hand what results were achieved and how, register now for an event coming to your region.

Details of upcoming HYC Results and Awards events:

For further information on the Hyper Yielding Crops project, please visit https://faraustralia.com.au/hyper-yielding-crops/

A full list of events can be viewed at https://faraustralia.com.au/event/

For a full set of provisional Hyper Yielding Crops 2021 trials results, please visit https://faraustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/HYC-2021-Results-FINAL.pdf

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Media contact:
Rachel Hamilton
Communications and Events Manager, FAR Australia
Ph: 0428 843 456
Email: rachel.hamilton@faraustralia.com.au

Project lead and wheat research lead
Nick Poole, FAR Australia
Ph: 0499 888 066
Email: nick.poole@faraustralia.com.au

HYC barley research lead
Dr Kenton Porker, FAR Australia
Ph: 0403 617 501
Email: kenton.porker@faraustralia.com.au

HYC canola research lead
Rohan Brill, Brill Ag
Ph: 0488 250 489
Email: rohan@brillag.com.au

About Hyper Yielding Crops (HYC)

The GRDC’s Hyper Yielding Crops (HYC) initiative, led by FAR Australia, is a four-year GRDC investment spanning five states (Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales and Western Australia) which aims to push the economically attainable yield boundaries of wheat, barley and canola.

The HYC initiative involves five research centres of excellence, and attached to each of these are five focus farm paddock trials and an innovative grower network charged with taking research and development learnings from small plot to paddock scale. Growers are able to join these networks and host paddock-scale trials on their properties to enable a “seeing is believing” participatory approach to the research.

Through this investment, high yield potential cultivars suited to local environments are being identified and the most appropriate agronomic management tactics – including paddock selection and preparation, canopy management, disease, weed and pest control, and crop nutrition strategies – are being explored to assist grower and adviser decision making.

To underpin the “whole community of interest” concept, the HYC awards program has been established to encourage everyone with an interest in increasing productivity to get involved and to enable growers to benchmark the agronomic performance of their own crops.

The HYC awards, Focus Farm paddock strips and the innovative grower network involves TechCrop working with the Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation (CeRDI) at Federation University Australia and four farming groups across the country; Southern Farming Systems (SFS) in Tasmania and Victoria, MacKillop Farm Management Group (MFMG) in SA, Riverine Plains Inc in NSW, and Stirling to Coast Farmers in WA. Growers, advisers and others wishing to become involved in the HYC initiative can contact their respective state project officers:

Victoria – Ashley Amourgis of SFS, aamourgis@sfs.org.au
Tasmania – Jill Lyall of SFS, jlyall@sfs.org.au
SA – Jen Lillecrapp of MFMG, jen@brackenlea.com
NSW – Kate Coffey of Riverine Plains Inc, kate@riverineplains.org.au
WA – Dan Fay of Stirling to Coast Farmers, dan.fay@scfarmers.org.au
Jon Midwood of TechCrop, jon@techcrop.com.au

Pictured left to right GRDC's Graeme Sandral, Riverine Plains' Kate Coffey, HYC NSW/N VIC award winner and Culcairn grain grower Damien Schneider with FAR Australia's Dr Kenton Porker and Nick Poole.

Tuesday 12th July 2022Culcairn grain grower earns himself two awards at HYC roadshow

Hyper Yielding Crops: Victoria Harvest Results and Awards

Hyper Yielding Crops: SA Harvest Results and Awards

Hyper Yielding Crops: WA Harvest Results and Awards

Hyper Yielding Crops: TAS Harvest Results and Awards

Tuesday 12th July 2022

Culcairn grain grower earns himself two awards at HYC roadshow