Field trials

Nick Watson

Providing expert plant-based field trials to prove variety and product performance

NIAB conducts trials and evaluations on a wide range of agricultural and horticultural crops. We have over 100 years’ experience across a wide range of crop and plant species and have the equipment and facilities to grow and record as well as collate, analyse and report the results to your specification.

The delivery of successful field trials is one of the most crucial elements of NIAB’s operations. It is achieved by dedicated teams located at field trial centres across the major agricultural areas of England and Wales, combining experience with local knowledge to manage a wide range of crops. This enables us to offer services across a range of environments, soil types and as part of commercial crop rotations.

Our field trials programme is large and complex, incorporating a wide range of applications. Industry-funded trials include early plant breeding screens and disease assessment trials, evaluation of agrochemicals, including registration of new products and formulations, and field scale plots for commercial demonstration to farmers and other end-users.

  • All work is strictly confidential
  • No marketing or promotion of products, just results
  • 100 years’ experience in perfecting trialling from science
  • Working in all agricultural and horticultural crops
  • Over 140,000 plots across 100 sites and 11 regional centres
  • ORETO and ISO accreditation

NIAB field trials services include:

  • Sourcing seed
  • Seed treatment
  • GPS field mapping
  • Precision drilling
  • Accurate product application
  • Field sensors
  • Experienced crop assessors
  • Aerial phenotyping by drone
  • Results interpretation by industry leading experts
  • Additional analytical services available via NIAB LabTest
  • Strict standard operating procedures to ensure data confirmity across trial series

Information flyer

Find out more information on our variety evaluation and management research