The potential for research, science and technology to add value to the fresh produce industry has been highlighted by Peter Landon-Lane, chief executive of the newly formed New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research.
The organisation was created when New Zealand-based research institute HortResearch merged with Crop & Food Research in December.
Two months on, the venture is still in a transitional state but the move is expected to be complete by the end of June.
The venture has seen increasing interest from European companies looking to improve their offer.
The newly merged organisation has more than 900 staff and more than 250 PhDs based at facilities throughout the country, as well as development staff and scientists in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.
It will focus its research in three broad themes including new elite cultivar development for the fruit, vegetable and arable sectors, environmentally and economically sustainable production systems and the application of primary sector-derived ingredients in novel functional foods.
Some of the main aims will include to get the breeding timeframe down to five to 10 years, rather than 20 years, to concentrate on sustainable production systems and to create the right decision tools for the industry.
Landon-Lane told FPJ: “The two bodies already had a number of partnerships across each organisation, which is logical because we are involved in all aspects on plant and food production. The work we have done has been complementary rather than overlapping, so the merger has been easy from a strategy perspective.
“Over the course of this year, we will fully integrate our programmes and our next projects will be organised under the new structure.
“The main driver was that we want to make a difference and to achieve faster, better innovation. There was no overlap in the science department, but we wanted to get the synergy benefits and a bigger pool of talent.”
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