PROC-9177374: NGN Lupins for sandy soils: Getting the most out of lupins in the Southern Mallee

Description: Narrow leaf lupins have fallen out of favour in recent years throughout the South Australian Mallee due to adapted genetics and higher gross margins for lentils. However, lupins remain an important part of the rotation in the SA Mallee for erosion management, a source of sheep feed and as a crop able to handle the gradually acidifying soils. Dry seasonal conditions in 2024 and 2025 have led to significant erosion issues in Mallee sands and a return to lupin production may present an opportunity to better manage erosion risk whilst retaining a legume in the system. Lupins still represent 20-30% of area sown to break crops with area having decreased recently due to increasing lentil production. Participants of the Lameroo National Grower Network forum have raised constant frustrations with lupin production and want to understand best agronomics to get the most out of lupins, particularly focusing on maximising establishment and increasing their competitiveness and consistency. A key challenge is poor germination and establishment of lupins. Lupins can struggle with dry sowing and early vigour to get coverage on sandhills. This increases potential for weed issues as lupins could be outcompeted by weeds and potential for erosion damage early in the season. To address these challenges, GRDC is investing in demonstration and extension of best practice lupin management to understand how to profitably and consistently improve lupin production. GRDC is seeking a service provider to deliver a codesigned program of work to address the challenges of lupins identified by growers. This investment will look at ways to improve the production, and therefore profitability of lupins within the Southern Mallee of SA. The focus will be understanding existing management strategies to support lupin establishment through understanding current practice in WA, learnings from the West and how these can be applied to the SA Mallee. This investment will achieve this through:

1. Codesigned trials with growers and advisers who grow lupins will ensure the findings are applicable and easily adoptable. Demonstration trials will be established to showcase management options for lupins to look to overcome some of their production challenges. These treatments will be compared to lentils and faba beans as the local gross margin benchmark (lentils) and another higher value option for management of erosion (faba beans).
2. Extension and communication activities to support adoption of management strategies identified. Outcome: By May 2029, at least 30 lupin growers throughout the Southern Mallee have been engaged in the design, local validation and documentation of agronomic practices to improve lupin crop establishment, and of late season manganese and their impacts on yield and quality, and data generated has informed comparative economic analysis of lupin against faba bean and lentil performance. Outputs Output 1. Title: Delivery and analysis of trials supporting lupin production in the SA Mallee. Description: By May 2026, recurring in 2027 and 2028, two trial sites within the Southern SA Mallee will be established, aimed at improving the level of understanding consistently establishing and growing lupins. Activities will include demonstration and evaluation of different lupin management strategies potentially suited to the area that are vetted and developed with a group of actively involved growers and advisers. Each year an Annual Operating Plan (AOP) outlining potential treatments will be supplied to GRDC for approval. Trials will be developed to answer key questions related to improving consistency of lupin within dune swale systems including: · Ways to improve establishment and crop competitiveness of lupin on sandy soils (e.g. germination testing, seeding rates and distribution, inoculant, agronomic lupin seeding practices to overcome non-wetting) · Evaluation of the impact of late season Manganese on lupin yield and quality characteristics (e.g., seed splitting and early vigour of retained seed). · Assessment of economic performance of lupin compared to lentil and faba bean. In crop assessments must be targeted to the trial objectives and may include: · Pre-seeding soil tests including topsoil comprehensive, segmented subsurface pH, segmented core to depth and Predicta B and rNod, herbicide residues · Vigour scores · NDVI – multiple timings · Biomass cuts and flowering dates · Herbicide damage scores and weed counts · Nodulation assessment · Germination tests of seed · Stem tissue testing to assess Mn levels · Grain yield · Post-harvest soil sampling for nitrogen and moisture · Erosion risk scores Each year a trial report will be submitted to the GRDC to summarise and discuss findings from the trials which once approved by GRDC will be uploaded to Online Farm Trials. All finalised trial reports will contain economic analysis of the treatments demonstrated in this investment. Output 2. Title: Extension and communication activities. Description: By May 2029, deliver extension and communication activities targeted at growers and advisers to increase confidence in and understanding of consistently establishing and growing lupin in the Southern Mallee. · A communication and extension (C&E) plan will be developed as part of the Annual Operating Plan for each year of the trials and will include consideration of GRDC avenues for promotion and extension of the work, including, but are not limited to, GRDC electronic mail to the CRM (event promotion), GroundCover, GRDC Grains Research Updates, GRDC webinars, GRDC podcasts and video channels, social media · Key results and conclusions will be publicised through local grower groups, and other GRDC media channels · Extension activities should be ground up driven – identifying local grower needs for improved motivation, attitudes, knowledge, abilities and technologies and using this to intentionally design extension activities and engagements. · Final reporting should include implications of results and recommendations for further investment and extension activities. An assessment of project impact on grower attitudes toward growing lupins within their farming systems, and in season management of this crop should also be included.

Conditions for Participation The following are mandatory conditions with which a Tenderer must comply to participate in this procurement process: 1 The Tenderer must be a single legal entity or recognised firm of partners 2 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. 3 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. 4 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: 1 Submit Tenders using the Grains Investment Portal. 2 Write Tenders in English and express any measurements in Australian legal units of measurement. 3 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 Demonstrated track record of the project team, including: · Relevant achievements of the project leader in providing leadership, co-ordination, management, monitoring and evaluation and the timely delivery of high quality outputs · Relevant technical knowledge and experience of all key personnel (including proposed subcontractors) in the research area · Ability of the project team to collaborate with the relevant research organisations and industry personnel to build on the research delivery undertaken in this area 40% 1b A detailed plan to deliver the investment outcome and outputs, specifying the: · Specific information, products and/or services to be delivered, including draft delivery plan. · Key tasks/milestones, responsible parties and indicative time frames · Project team structure and management arrangements, including collaborations with organisations, commercial companies and/or other projects with relevant data. · Plan to deliver relevant project outputs to target audience · Proposed trial and demonstration locations 50% 1c 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 (https://data.grdc.com.au/home/) 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. 10% 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

It is expected that this investment will be run over 40 months