Official Variety Testing
Variety selection is an important aspect of organic commodity crop production. Disease and pest resistance of different varieties as well as their maturity ratings can offer producers an advantage against pests, disease, and weeds.
NC State has an Official Variety Testing program which provides yield comparisons for conventional corn, wheat, and soybeans. Trials are available for the Piedmont, Coastal Plain, and Tidewater regions.
Variety performance data has been compiled in the Variety Selection Tool, for corn, wheat, and soybeans. The dashboard offers yield comparisons and disease resistance for different varieties in different regions. While these trials are under conventional management and only capture some organic commercial varieties, this may be a valuable tool for understanding performance of different varieties.
There is a video tutorial on how to use the Variety Selection Tool.Organic Official Variety Trials
From 2011-2016 NC State conducted Organic Official Variety Trials on corn, wheat, and soybean. The Organic Official Variety Test (OVT) began in 2009 through grant funding from the USDA Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI). This project aimed to test non-GMO varieties of corn, soybean, and wheat in organic production conditions (both on organic farms and at research stations with organically managed land) in order to provide NC organic commodities producers with more information about how available varieties may perform in organic conditions.
Below are the results of the Organic Official Variety testing from 2011-2016
2011-2016 Organic Wheat OVT ResultsPDF Version
2012-2013 Organic Wheat OVT Results
