AgResearch Ltd (formerly known as New Zealand Pastoral Agriculture Research Institute Limited) is one of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

's largest

Crown Research Institute In New Zealand, Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) are corporatised Crown entities charged with conducting scientific research. In January 2025, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced plans to merge the existing crown research institutes into t ...

s with over 700 staff and revenue of NZ$160.7 million in the year to June 2014. The New Zealand Government intends to merge the institute into the

New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science The formation of the New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science (NZIBS) was announced as part of the New Zealand science sector reforms. The NZIBS will come into being as a Crown Research Institute (CRI) on 1 July 2025, and will be made up of t ...

on 1 July 2025.

Main areas of research

AgResearch exists to serve the

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

sectors of New Zealand industry.

History

AgResearch was created along with New Zealand's other

s in 1992. In AgResearch's case, this was largely by merging the pastoral agriculture-related portions of MAFTech (the research arm of the then Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries) which had predominantly carried out animal research, with the agriculture-related portions of DSIR, which had predominantly carried out research on forage plants. AgResearch has grown over time by acquiring research organisations "down" the value stream from its initial on-farm emphasis, such as the former Meat Industry Research Institute of New Zealand (MIRINZ) in 1999 and the former Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand (WRONZ, which had been rebranded as Canesis) in 2007. In March 2009 AgResearch announced that it planned to merge with Lincoln University, but that was subsequently changed to an intention to form a joint venture. A plan called "Future Footprint" was announced in 2013 to concentrate resources at the Grasslands site in Palmerston North and Lincoln campus near Christchurch. This involved the transfer of about 200 staff mostly from Ruakura (Hamilton) and Invermay (Dunedin) sites. There were reports that a substantial number of staff left the CRI after Future Footprint was announced and staff morale was poor with redundancies being considered in September 2015. About 50 scientific staff were made redundant in 2016. The government approved the restructure in June 2016. These changes were not eventually implemented due to staff backlash and resignations so the genomics teams remain at Invermay. On 14 May 2025,

Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology The Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology is a Ministers in the New Zealand Government, minister in the New Zealand Government. The minister's responsibilities include leading the science and innovation system and setting the directio ...

Shane Reti Shane Raymond Reti (born 5 June 1963) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, and a Cabinet Minister with the roles of Minister for Pacific Peoples, Minister of Science, Innovation, and Technology, ...

announced that AgResearch would be integrated into a new

Public Research Organisation A Public Research Organisation (PRO) is a type of New Zealand research organisation, established in 2025 as a reformation of the science and research system. The government announced in January 2025 that the Crown Research Institutes would be r ...

called the

from 1 July 2025.

Organisation

AgResearch's science capability is divided into six groups: Animal Productivity, Forage Improvement, Food & Bio-based Products, Animal Nutrition & Health, Innovative Farm Systems and Land & Environment. Science staff operate in five portfolio groups representing major sectors: Dairy On-farm, Dairy Pasture-to-plate, Meat & Fibre On-farm, Meat & Fibre Paddock-to-Consumer and Agricultural Policy & Maori

Agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit ...

Locations

AgResearch has research campuses at locations around New Zealand, including: *

Ruakura Ruakura is a semi-rural suburb of Hamilton City, in the Waikato region of New Zealand. The University of Waikato is nearby. The area lies to the east of urban Hamilton and to the west of State Highway 1B (a variant of State Highway 1 which av ...

, near

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

*Grasslands and the Hopkirk Research Institute, near

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; , colloquially known as Palmerston or Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatū Plains, the city is near the north bank of the Manaw ...

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

, near

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

Invermay Invermay () is a diffuse settlement in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is situated approximately 2 km southeast of Forteviot on the Water of May, some 8 km southwest of Perth. Before the mid 15th century, it was known as ''Innermeath ...

, near

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

References

External links

*
Hopkirk Research Institute

New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre

history of AgResearch in Waikato from 1901
{{Authority control Crown Research Institutes of New Zealand Agricultural research Science and technology in New Zealand

Main areas of research

History

Organisation

Locations

See also

References

External links