AgResearch Ltd

AgResearch Ltd (formerly known as New Zealand Pastoral Agriculture Research Institute Limited) is New Zealand's largest Crown Research Institute with about 990 staff and revenue of NZ$136 million in the year to June 2007. [ [http://www.agresearch.co.nz/publications/annualreport.asp AgResearch Annual Report 2007, pp.46-47.] Accessed 2008-08-09.]

Main areas of research

AgResearch exists to serve the agriculture and biotechnology 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 Forestry) 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.

Organisation

AgResearch is divided into three broad science and technology groups, each comprising a number of research sections. The Agriculture and Environment Group includes four sections, covering Animal Health, Agricultural Systems, Biocontrol Biosecurity & Bioprocessing and Climate, Land & Environment. The Applied Biotechnologies Group includes seven sections, covering Animal Genomics, Reproductive Technologies, Reproductive Biology, Growth & Development, Forage Improvement, Forage Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Mathematics & Statistics. The Food & Textiles Group includes three sections, covering Dairy Science & Technology, Textile Science & Technology and Food, Metabolism & Microbiology.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.agresearch.co.nz/ Official site]
* [http://www.agresearch.co.nz/mirinz/default.asp MIRINZ Centre official site]
* [http://www.hopkirk.org.nz/default.aspx Hopkirk Research Institute official site]