The GRDC NGN Faba Bean Agronomy Tasmania project is kicking off for the 2026/27 season, building on the 2025 trials tackling several key questions that emerged throughout the 2025 season.

The focus for 2026 is refining and expanding our knowlegde of how faba beans perform across different Tasmanian environments.

Trials are being conducted across two sites the SFS Hagley trial site and a North West satellite site near Penguin. Together, these locations aim to capture both regional variation and system specific challenges.

At Hagley, three trials are investigating:

1. Density by variety trial, designed to validate optimal sowing rates under Tasmanian conditions with PBA Amberley, PBA Bendoc, and PBA Samira — three of the most commonly grown varieties. Sowing rates have been refined based on last year’s trials, with the aim of establishing a clearer yield response curve and identifying where increases in plant population begin to plateau or decline in return.
2. A fungicide by variety trial has been set up to ensure useful data can be collected regardless of disease levels, with treatments ranging from a nil control through to a full program of three to four fungicide applications across the season. Preventative and curative approaches are also included, with timing based on canopy closure or infection thresholds. These treatments are being applied across two varieties, PBA Amberley and PBA Bendoc, which offer differing disease profiles and should provide further insight into how varietal choice interacts with fungicide strategy.
3. Time of sowing by variety, with the aim of better understanding how faba beans respond phenologically to different planting windows. Building on 2025’s trials confirming the crop’s ability to establish and yield in the Westbury region, the focus is on how sowing timing influences flowering, pod fill and overall risk exposure. Investigating how flowering periods align with frost risk, and how later growth stages interact with moisture stress. Two of the planned three sowing timings are already in the ground, with the remaining timing to follow, and there is also the potential for an additional spring sowing to further extend the data set.

At the North West satellite site, the overall trial program is focused on how faba beans fit within mixed and vegetable systems, as well as validating fundamental agronomic settings under different conditions.

Four trials are investigating:

1. Broadleaf and grass weeds herbicide trial looking at how faba beans can be used in rotation to help manage both broadleaf and grass weeds, while also assessing crop safety and herbicide performance in a Tasmanian environment. This follows observations from last season where strong yields were achieved, but weed pressure remained a significant challenge both during and after the crop.
2. Variety trial at the site will compare established options such as PBA Bendoc and PBA Amberley with newer lines, with the aim of validating their adaptation and yield potential in the North West.
3. Sowing depth trial has been established to begin building an understanding of optimal planting depth under varying soil and moisture conditions, recognising that this can shift depending on timing and seasonal outlook.
4. Fungicide by variety trial the same as the Hagley trial aiming to strengthen confidence in disease management strategies across the state.

As the season unfolds, these trials will provide valuable insights into how management decisions around density, nutrition timing, sowing window and crop protection translate into both yield and system fit.

Keep an eye out for updates throughout the season as the project begins to unpack what these different approaches mean for faba bean production across Tasmania.

By Grace Evans, Senior Research & Extension Officer