Canola growers have even more choice than ever before, and seed companies are releasing new varieties each season that promise better yields and enhanced disease protection. So, helping a grower decide which variety is going to perform best in their specific growing conditions is a complex task for advisers.
Leading canola seed company, Nuseed has recently established a new team to help advisors navigate the myriad of varieties on offer and make the best recommendation for their growers’ cropping plans.
Led by Nuseed veteran Chris Roberts, Nuseed’s market development team has been tasked with supporting agronomists and consultants to deliver for their grower customers.
Mr Roberts said Nuseed understands buying seed is a significant investment for growers. “Our role in the process is to provide data, agronomic information and technical guidance to their advisors so they can select the variety that is best-suited to their farm.
“And it goes beyond the initial variety choice. We’re also sharing our in-depth canola knowledge to help advisors and growers get the best performance out of the Nuseed genetics.”
General manager of Nuseed Australia Rachel Palumbo saw the opportunity for Nuseed to share more of their team’s canola knowledge when she joined the business in early 2021.
“Nuseed is in the unique position of being canola specialists in the Australian market,” Ms Palumbo said.
“Our breeding team does an incredible job using our vast germplasm library at our Innovation Centre in Horsham to develop new varieties with increased performance and better disease resistance.
“Every new variety we release to the market goes through years of research and development to make sure it has the genetic package to be a top performer, and we want to help growers get the full performance out of every seed.
“So, we’ve invested in a dedicated market development team who function as the connection point between our R&D team and our customers.”
Mr Roberts has a long history with Nuseed and is part of their global canola crop team, taking a lead role in the annual advancement process to decide which varieties will make it through the trial stages to be released commercially.
Joining him on the market development team are Michael Hickey and Adrian Carter, as regional market development managers in the west and east respectively.
“Michael and Adrian both have extensive expertise in canola which they’re sharing with our customers, and they’re supporting our knowledgeable sales team,” Mr Roberts said.
“Michael was integral to the development of one of our newest TruFlex canola varieties, Nuseed Emu TF.
“After speaking to a lot of agronomists and farmers in the northern wheat belt area of WA, he realised there was a gap in the market for an early maturing canola variety that could consistently deliver sufficient yield to earn a place in their rotations.
“So, Michael started campaigning internally, talking to me and the head of our canola breeding team, Dr Nelson Gororo many times to help us understand the opportunity he saw.
“Eventually he convinced us that it was worth a look so Nelson and his team dug into our germplasm vault and started working on some crosses they thought would be suitable.
“Fast forward a few years and we released Nuseed Emu TF this season which is performing extremely well in that region. It’s an early maturing variety that can be planted later without a yield penalty, so can be sown when soil moisture is more certain.
“Michael’s local knowledge made this happen and we’re getting lots of positive feedback from agronomists and growers,” Mr Roberts said.
Nuseed has announced the release of two new TruFlex varieties for 2023: Nuseed Hunter TF, an early-mid maturing variety, and Nuseed Eagle TF, a mid-maturity option. They’re also adding to their hybrid TT portfolio with the release of HyTTec Velocity, an early maturing canola that Mr Roberts says is the fastest variety in the HyTTec family.
With the sowing season for 2023 fast approaching, and demand for canola seed expecting to stay high, Mr Roberts said Nuseed understands seed supply is a hot topic.
“We’ve planted our biggest ever production crop this year,” he said. “We’ve also spread it over a much wider geographic area, both here in Australia and overseas, to avoid any impact from extreme local weather events.
“We’ll be sharing regular supply updates over the next few months, so we encourage everyone to follow us on social media for more information or speak to their seed supplier if they have any questions.”
