The weather led to mixed harvest results for 2022/23. The Autumn Cultivar Evaluation booklet outlines how a range of wheat and barley cultivars performed across the country.
Yields from the 2022/23 autumn sown cereal performance trials were around average, to below average across the country. This result is probably linked to variable, and in many cases unfavourable, weather conditions from sowing through to pollination and grain fill. Disease pressure was also moderately high, with leaf rust and Septoria leaf blotch present in the disease nurseries and field trials in Canterbury and North Island. Tan spot was noted in Methven and Temuka. It was a similar case for barley, with net blotch, scald, ramularia leaf spot and leaf rust observed.