GRDC National Variety Trials (NVT) systems manager Neale Sutton says he enjoys delivering independent crop and variety performance data to growers.

Hailing from a farming background in Victoria and armed with an agricultural science degree, Mr Sutton started working with NVT in February 2007 when the Australian Crop Accreditation System managed it.

When GRDC moved the NVT in-house in 2017, Mr Sutton became a GRDC employee and has remained with the program ever since.

“Working with the NVT offers an excellent opportunity to leverage my farming background and agricultural science degree. It has kept me connected to the broadacre cropping industry across Australia,” he says.

“I’ve had various roles within the program and met some fantastic people.”

Clear purpose

When Mr Sutton joined the NVT, he was clear about its purpose: to connect growers with the best plant genetics for their farms. As an insider, he watched the program help transition the grains industry from state-based public plant breeding to privatised crop breeding.

“The NVT puts independent results in the hands of growers in a commercial world where it can sometimes be difficult to recognise marketing ‘spin’.”

He says the NVT has enabled growers to take advantage of significant genetic advances made by private plant breeding companies by accessing independent, transparent and trustworthy variety performance data for winter crop and sorghum varieties.

While the NVT remains committed to independence and relevance, he says it has evolved to add value. Examples include more efficient trial management procedures and protocols to keep up with technological advances and best practices.

Current role

In his current role, Mr Sutton oversees the NVT database, which stores all trial results. He also manages the website to deliver crop variety performance results quickly and accurately. His other work includes managing various investments, including the NVT disease rating program.

“I love that the NVT covers all growing regions across Australia. You would be hard-pressed to find a grower that does not have an NVT trial within 100 kilometres of their farm, so we always ensure the local relevance of the results,” he says.

“It means we are engaged with growers and advisers from across Australia. I have visited most NVT locations, met with growers, advisers and trial managers, and see first-hand how different crops and varieties look.”

Report card

Having worked for the NVT for almost 18 years, Mr Sutton is well-placed to assess its performance.

“The NVT has been successful in developing a national standard for crop variety trials, and aligning the states and participating breeder programs under this standardised approach,” he says. “This has been achieved through ongoing and active stakeholder engagement.”

Mr Sutton monitors innovative technology developments that could improve the accuracy of results and labour efficiency in the future.

For example, he says advanced imaging technologies may be practical for capturing establishment data, assessing plant population variability, and determining disease infection levels.

“Improved analytics, AI and machine learning will also simplify the interpretation of results because the NVT already has surpassed 1.6 million plots planted, and over eight million  plot-specific measurements in the database.”

He says the work is exciting and challenging and he looks forward to contributing to the program’s future evolution.

More information: National Variety Trials