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

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

's largest Crown Research Institutes with over 700 staff and revenue of NZ$160.7 million in the year to June 2014.

Main areas of research

AgResearch exists to serve the

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

and

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...

sectors of New Zealand industry.

History

AgResearch was created along with New Zealand's other Crown Research Institutes 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.

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.

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 avo ...

, near

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilto ...

*Grasslands and the Hopkirk Research Institute, near

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

* Lincoln, near

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

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 ''Innermeat ...

, near

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

References

External links