Thanks to the drier weather we’ve had over the last few weeks, New Year’s Eve saw the last of the 2024 trials to be harvested. While the lack of rain has been great for harvest (quite a change from the last few wetter summers), it does come at a cost (RIP summer cover crops). Nevertheless, there is still lots to be done for 2024 trials, including grain testing, stats analysis and report writing.

Surprisingly, canola this year yielded exceptionally well for the season, with NVT trials averaging around 3.7 t/ha, despite looking pretty sparse all season. Moisture probe data shows moisture levels in the top 40cm starting to decrease in August and September, but the canola must have been able to get down and access a bit more moisture at depth.

Whilst the canola still did well, cereals trials took a hit at most sites, and coupled with frosts at Streatham, yields in many cereal trials were down.

Temperatures at Streatham dipped below zero for around eight hours two mornings in a row on October 8 & 9, getting reaching minus 2.2 degrees C on the 9th. While this severely affected all cereals, it was particularly damaging to earlier sown winter wheats. In the April sown NVT wheat trial, the average growth stage on October 2 was GS60, meaning the frosts coincided with peak flowering. The highest yielding varieties (3-3.8 t/ha) were all yet to start flowering at the time of the frosts, while lowest yielding varieties (< 1 t/ha) were just past peak flowering and starting grain fill.

An exception to the lower yield trend was at Hamilton, which had the highest rainfall of the three trial sites, sitting around decile 5 for the majority of the growing season, as opposed to decile 2 at Inverleigh and Streatham. This, along with very low disease levels, saw Hamilton barley average around 8.5 t/ha, with wheats a bit lower at 6.9 t/ha.

For a sneak peak, Members Only Access to Express Results is available here… For more in depth analysis and full report will be available in the SFS Members Only 2024 Trials Results Book and join us for the SFS Trials Results Information Event 19 March 2025.