NGN Milling Oats Agronomy for Southern NSW

Reference number: PROC-9177185

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Release date:: Friday 13 December 2024
Closing time:: Friday 24 January 2025, at 05:00 PM ACT local time
Enquiry deadline:: Friday 17 January 2025, at 05:00 PM ACT local time
Industry briefing: Refer to Clause 10 RFT Terms and Conditions on how to register.

Summary

Southern NSW cropping systems are dominated by wheat and barley as the choice options for winter cereals crops. The established crops are known to be reliable and adaptable to certain cropping rotations. Although, one constraint that has been put forward by local growers is the susceptibility to frosts. Many wheat and barley crops were decimated by frosts in 2024, with growers at the local NGN forums asking for research into the potential of milling oats to provide an alternative cereal.

Offer period

Offers will remain open for acceptance by the GRDC for a period of 6 months after the Closing Time.

Document contact and enquiries

Attention: Contract Administrator, Lyndal Gordon
Grains Research and Development Corporation
Email: lyndal.gordon@grdc.com.au

Make all requests for further information or clarification in relation to this procurement in writing (email) prior to 17 January 2025.

GRDC will publish all requests and responses to requests on the GRDC website under Questions and Answers at the bottom of this webpage.

Consortia response

GRDC will not accept Tenders from Consortia.

Lodgement of Tender

Submit your Tender response electronically through the Grains Investment Portal.

AusTender

TBC.

Description

The investment will use in field experiments to quantify the advantage milling oats have in a southern NSW cropping system to mitigate frost risks. The experiment will be conducted annually to determine the optimum sowing date and frost stress threshold for modern milling oat cultivars. It will monitor cropping establishment, plant productivity, and phenology variances following industry standard protocols. Frost stress thresholds and optimum sowing dates will be determined with approved methods allowing better grower confidence. Experiment treatments should be communicated and approved by local growers and advisors to maintain relevance to the region and adoption potential.

The proposed investment would utilise both small plot trials, larger paddock scale trial strips and case studies to investigate several agronomic options such as:

Time of sowing opportunities. Multiple sowing dates to identify the optimum planting date and frost stress threshold for milling oats in the local region
Sowing depth. Can oats take advantage of soil moisture at depth (>5 cm), planting depths that wheat and barley struggle to germinate from.
Sowing rates. Do modern cultivars require higher seeding rates to achieve full yield potential?
Disease tolerance. Productivity of oats with varying degrees of background disease levels (crown rot)
Nutrition management to optimise protein levels. Test and capture soil critical values corresponding to grain protein. Establish experiments at fields with varying background nitrogen status to test extremities of critical values.
Economic analysis to quantify benefit of this approach

Outcome

Outputs

Output 1.

Title: By May 2028 an agronomy update for milling oats in Southern NSW will be developed utilising small plot trials, farmer machinery scale trials and farmer case studies.

Description: A series of field experiments including small plot trials including variable sowing dates to evaluate frost tolerance and ideal sowing window in southern NSW. Also, the investment will include larger field case studies and strip trials on commercial farms to greater understanding of the application the oat agronomic options have in a farming system. The expectation is for one or two small scale plot trials and a minimum of 4 larger experiments per season. The location of the field experiments to be approved by GRDC, and the local growers to ensure research relevance. Methodology will be outlined in the annual plan prior to planting every season, with evidence treatment selections were communicated and approved by the local grower and advisors in the region. Protocols will contain establishment values, plant productivity (biomass and yield), plant phenology and grain nutrition and quality results. Soil nutrition and disease loads are expected to be measured prior to sowing at all experiment sites. The successful organisation will collate and analyse the data for homogeneity and uploaded into the GRDC online farm trails database annually. The proposed investment is expected but not limited to investigate several agronomic options such as:

Time of sowing opportunities. Local data to extrapolate frost tolerance and optimum sowing dates, regarding grain yields and grain weight.
Sowing depth. Planting deeper to take advantage of subsoil moisture (this option will be reliant on localised conditions at time of sowing.
Sowing rates. What is the ideal sowing rate to achieve optimum yield of modern milling oat cultivars?
Disease management options. Measure the tolerance threshold of oats to perform against varying crown rot levels in southern NSW.
Nutritional requirements - particularly nitrogen – to optimise grain quality.
Agronomic levers to pull to ensure grain weight and quality is maintained for the milling market.

Output 2.

Title: By May 2028 extension of project results delivered to growers in Southern NSW.

Description: Adoption of improved agronomic practices is crucial for the success of the investment. A series of extension activities must be used to disseminate key findings to growers and advisors. The activities allow for communication of key research findings, and to correctly align experimental goals with grower preferences. The successful organisation is expected to:

Extend results and observations to farmer groups in Southern NSW and Northern VIC across the life of the project. One field day per year for every small plot experimental site. Dissemination of the larger case studies and strip trials to be conducted either at the field day or at local grower meetings.
Provide a final technical report to GRDC outlining findings from the experimental sites. The report will also include findings from the case studies and strip trials conducted in commercial grain systems.
Provide context (information) for the development of one Ground Cover article
Provide key findings in an accessible location for the Southern NSW region (booklet, web based etc.) encompassing the agronomy and, economics options explored as a part of this project.

Proposed Budget

Proposed Contract & Term

GRDC will contract under the terms of the GRDC Standard Two-Party Research Contract.

The schedule(s) attached to the contract will detail the project details: the outcomes, outputs, milestones, budget, participating personnel and required intellectual property.

The template contract containing the proposed Terms and Conditions is available on the Application resources page on the GRDC website.

It is anticipated that any resultant contract in relation to this procurement will commence with a proposed term of 40 months.

Conditions for Participation

The following are mandatory conditions with which a Tenderer must comply to participate in this procurement process:

The Tenderer must be a single legal entity or recognised firm of partners
The Tenderer and any proposed subcontractor must be compliant with the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, the Modern Slavery Act 2018 and any other applicable labour laws and standards in the jurisdiction in which they operate.
The Tenderer and any subcontractor must not have a judicial decision against it (not including decisions under appeal) relating to employee entitlements and who have not paid the claim.
The Tenderer and any subcontractor must not be named on the Consolidated List, being the list of persons and entities who are subject to targeted financial sanctions or travel bans under Australian sanction laws, as maintained by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Minimum Form and Content Requirements

The following are the mandatory content and format requirements that the Tenderer must complete and provide to participate in this procurement process:

Submit Tenders using the Grains Investment Portal.
Write Tenders in English and express any measurements in Australian legal units of measurement.
Budget details must be submitted on the ‘GRDC Budget Template’ provided in the Grains Investment Portal.

Evaluation Criteria

In the table below are the Evaluation Criteria that the Tender Evaluation Team will use to assess the value for money of all Tenders.

No	Type	Weighting
1	Technical – Qualitative evaluation criteria related to non-price factors such as methodology, project plan, track record, experience.
1a	Describe the method/s to achieve the investment outputs, including: number of years and seasons of field testing, lab work etc. proposed locations of activities management and design of experiments etc. statistical design and analysis capacity.	40%
1b	An overview of your approach to data management in accordance with GRDC RD&E Data Management Guidelines, including: existing data that you intend to use during the project and any potential restrictions on its use, including in publication or commercialisation of the intended project outputs how all data will be managed during the investment new valuable data that will be created during the project and the Approved Repository where it will be stored. Note: We recommend searching the GRDC Data Catalogue for data that could be used in your proposed work, either by negating the need to generate new data or by adding to analyses being carried out.	30%
1c	Demonstrated track record of the project team, including: a) relevant achievements of the project leader in providing leadership, co-ordination, management, monitoring and evaluation and the timely delivery of high quality outputs b) relevant technical knowledge and experience of all key personnel (including proposed subcontractors) in the research area c) relevant achievements in the delivery of commercial IP (if relevant) d) ability of the project team to collaborate with the relevant research organisations and industry personnel to build on the research (national and international) already undertaken in this area	30%
2	Price - The tendered budget.	N/A
3	Risk - Risks inherent in the application including the degree of compliance with the draft contract and any actual or perceived conflict of interest.	N/A
4	Australian economy - The economic benefit of the procurement to the Australian economy.	N/A