Tuesday, 24 July 2018 11:26

British seed breeder forges ahead in NZ

Written by 
Sarah Gard, Germinal. Sarah Gard, Germinal.

UK seed company Germinal’s plant breeding programme in New Zealand is progressing well, says general manager Sarah Gard.

Notably, this is the first time any material has been taken outside of Germinal’s R&D partner, the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) in Wales, a known centre of excellence in plant breeding. 

“Using IBERS material we are selecting for the traits we want in a NZ environment, such as increasing the early spring growth in our perennial ryegrass.” Gard joined Germinal in 2014, managing trials and product development before becoming general manager earlier this year.

“Our R&D in NZ involves plot trials where we test our current commercial varieties, and new breeding lines, against other commercial varieties. I’m also running a new plant breeding programme where we are breeding new Germinal varieties for NZ in NZ,” says Gard.

Existing Germinal products are already performing well in NZ conditions, she says. 

Germinal has a small team – Gard and sales manager Andrew Miller, with a new research technician starting soon. 

Gard says Germinal NZ has the global company’s backing to offer a range of well-researched and proven products to NZ farmers, plus her and Miller’s ‘Kiwi know-how’.

“Andrew and I are both farmers,” Gard says. “This means we understand what farmers need and those needs are always at the front of our minds in all the decisions we make. 

“We’ve a full range of proven Germinal products available this spring that we know will perform well for farmers in NZ conditions.”

More like this

New grass produces sweet results

A new high sugar grass now available in NZ has the potential to significantly lift animal production and reduce farmer’s environmental footprint.

Forage grasses to be bred locally

International seed business Germinal is increasing its presence in New Zealand, appointing Sarah Gard, of North Canterbury, as its trials and product development manager.

Featured

National

Machinery & Products

Farming smarter with technology

The National Fieldays is an annual fixture in the farming calendar: it draws in thousands of farmers, contractors, and industry…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

110,000 visitors!

OPINION: It's official, Fieldays 2025 clocked 110,000 visitors over the four days.

Sticky situation

OPINION: The Federated Farmers rural advocacy hub at Fieldays has been touted as a great success.

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter