Online Farm Trials team hits the road

The Online Farm Trials (OFT) team were on the road in the lead up to Christmas, presenting the project and taking feedback from grower groups and researchers.
The Ag Excellence Alliance (Ag Ex) committee meeting in Adelaide was the first trip, where the OFT project was presented to representatives from South Australian grower groups and Ag Ex committee members.
The presentation gave the OFT team the chance to demonstrate the capabilities of the application, answer questions, take feedback and gauge interest from grower groups in hosting trial information on Online Farm Trials.
The feeling afterwards was very positive with most grower group representatives expressing an interest in sharing trial information through Online Farm Trials.
Ag Excellence Alliance Executive Officer Mark Stanley said the project was a great initiative for grower groups in South Australia.
“The OFT system will provide a one stop shop for groups and farmers to store and access trial data relevant to their local conditions and farming system,” he said.
“A number of groups have expressed an interest in becoming involved in the OFT system.”
Mr Stanley said the initial challenge in using OFT was finding a time and cost effective method for entering trial data.
The OFT team will now work with Ag Ex and SA grower groups to bring trial information from South Australia to the OFT system.
The following week the team visited the Grains Innovation Park in Horsham to meet with representatives from the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) and the National Variety Trials (NVT).
The meeting gave an update of where the OFT application had progressed and explored future development opportunities.
Further collaboration with the NVT and IPNI will be progressed in the coming months.