Australia
January 6, 2016

Australian grain growers can now `tap their fingers’ and access crop variety comparison and disease diagnostic information following the release of two innovative new mobile apps.

Developed by the Australian National Variety Trials (NVT) program and funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), the NVT Long Term Yield Reports App and the Crop Disease Au app are revolutionising growers’ abilities to make informed and on-the-spot management decisions to improve productivity and profitability.

The NVT Long Term Yield Reports app enables growers to access and interpret Australian variety data while the Crop Disease Au app offers instantaneous access to current state specific disease resistance ratings, disease information and an extensive disease image library.

NVT is a national GRDC-funded program managed by Australian Crop Accreditation System Limited (ACAS) which provides industry with independent and rigorous information on the performance and characteristics of individual crop varieties.

NVT general manager Neale Sutton said the new apps paved the way for growers to bolster the performance of their farming system by quickly and easily matching variety selection to environment and likely pest or disease prevalence.

“These new apps will give growers all the relevant information on over 100 crop/disease combinations,” Mr Sutton said.

“They take variety analysis and crop diagnostics from the desk to the paddock, meaning growers can make informed management decisions outside the confines of the office.

“Digital resources like the new apps are becoming the new frontier for farm businesses to improve gross margin potential, offering easily accessible and interpretable information that allows them to manage environmental and production risks right across the farming system.”

GRDC varieties manager Tom Giles (pictured) said the new apps would utilise live feeds from the NVT database, ensuring variety information was constantly up-to-date and information on new varieties would become available immediately on release. Importantly, once the apps have been updated they are able to be used offline.

“Given that the NVT Long Term Yield app looks at the long term cross-site analysis’, this will be fantastic for growers and agronomists to really interrogate both the yield performance and stability of individual crop varieties,” Mr Giles said.

“The release of the Crop Disease Au app will enable growers to select the appropriate variety for a farm rotation, whether that involves nematodes or a crown rot risk, as well as in-season diseases such as rust and ascochyta blight.”

The disease resistance ratings presented in the Crop Disease Au app have been devised in collaboration with a working group of pathologists from state-based departments, universities and private researchers funded by GRDC and can also be found on the NVT website www.nvtonline.com.au

Both apps are now live and available for Apple, Android and, in the case of the NVT Long Term Yield app, on tablet and as a desktop tool.

To download the app for your mobile device or desktop computer, visit the apps section of the NVT website http://www.nvtonline.com.au/apps/.

Website: http://www.grdc.com.au

Published: January 6, 2016