Liebe Group pushes the boundaries on early sown canola
- Liebe Group
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
In recent years in the Northern Agricultural region, growers have experienced inconsistency of the traditional autumn break and more variable and opportunistic thunderstorm events in late March and early April.
Taking advantage of the weather to sow a crop is a calculated risk for any grower, but the Liebe Group is finding that some of the benefits of early sown canola on the back of these early rain events are worth considering.
Over the past three years, the Liebe Group has trialled early sowing of canola which has consistently demonstrated that seeding earlier than the traditional early-May window can increase yields across various seasonal conditions.
These trials have highlighted the importance of a successful initial germination, noting once established the crop generally persists and delivers a profitable yield, whereas re-sowing a failed crop adds extra costs and risks of later maturing if the season cuts off in September.
In 2025, the opportunity presented itself to push the boundaries of early sowing, with a 50mm rainfall event in mid-March leading to a germination event almost four weeks earlier than previous trial work had been able to achieve.
The results have been intriguing, with canola germination occurring a few days after sowing, and despite a long run of nearly 40 degree days and some seedling mortality, enough seedlings hung on to achieve a reasonable and harvestable crop.
This trial was also designed to investigate whether adjusting sowing depth can improve early establishment, and lead to higher yields in early sowing scenarios, making the strategy more effective and reliable.
Canola was sown at two depths: shallow, 1.5 cm, and deep, 4.5 cm and at two times of sowing to allow a comparison to mid-April sowing. The deeper sowing was intended to allow the seed to access moisture for longer, as the topsoil dries quickly, and therefore will be able to establish more successfully.
Additionally, the trial was sown with three varieties of differing maturity: Emu (early), Hunter (early-mid) and PY525G (mid).
Establishment rates were low, with plant numbers ranging from 7 plants per square metre in deep March sowing to 20 plants per square metre in shallow April sowing.
As luck would have it, another 20 mm thunderstorm event in early April, meant the seedlings were able to survive through until the main break of the season, which didn’t occur until the 29th of May.
Going this early is risky, and it is unlikely that the early germinates would have been able to survive in this season had the April storm not arrived. Furthermore, the yield results do not indicate that there was any additional benefit to going earlier than April with both sowing times averaging around 2.4 t/ha, however there was no penalty either, so one of the messages is that getting crop in the ground before or soon after a decent early rainfall event can have its rewards.
Additionally, this particular trial was sown nearly five days after the March rainfall event, which was the best that could be achieved given the logistics involved, however if the trial had been sown within a day or two of the rain, the germination may have been a lot better, even with the subsequent run of hot weather.
The site also had a good amount of stubble cover, which is suspected to have provided some shelter for the seedlings, protecting them from the heat.
This trial has however raised the question around plant density and how low is too low before reseeding is necessary. Harvestability can be problematic at low densities, with big gaps in the crops leading to poor feeding into the harvester front.
For more information contact the Liebe Group Office, 9661 1907, or visit the Liebe Group Research Hub in 2026 for trial results - https://www.liebegroup.org.au/researchhub
This work has been an investment from the Grains Research and Development Corporation, through the National Grower Network.
