A similar multiplication and value chain applies with vegetable and cereal seed crops developed in NZ and for global export markets. All up our combined seed exports contributed over $160 million in revenues for the country in 2012.
In turn this means the value of plant breeding is hugely significant for the national economy. This is especially true in terms of the development of novel grass and cereal crop endophytes which are in huge demand overseas.
In this context, seed banks are an essential resource, ensuring seeds are safeguarded from threats like pests, climate change or other disasters, in a secure repository.
Banked seeds are held in a sealed environment where they are kept cool and their moisture content is held at low levels. The lower the moisture content the longer the lifespan for the seed.
Also contained in seed banks are important genetics for breeders to use in their research to innovate and improve on existing plant varieties.
Tucked away in Palmerston North is the Margot Forde Forage Germplasm Centre, this country’s largest seed bank for grasses and legumes. It contains over 65,000 samples sourced from around the world which are available for use in breeding programmes and research to develop new plant varieties.
Some of the seed held in the centre has been obtained from various overseas collection missions, primarily centred on the southern parts of Europe and the Middle East.
In the past breeders trying to extract seed from the centre for evaluation have been hampered by overly bureaucratic regulation. Working closely with officials, plant breeders have this year been able to implement major changes in regulations controlling quarantine and inspection regimes. The result will be faster development of new cultivars, while still ensuring a demanding level of biosecurity protection.
New plant varieties developed locally can provide significant income to NZ from the sale of seed and from the licensing of those varieties in other countries.
Plant breeding is an expensive and time-consuming process especially with the extensive testing needed. Typically, the time required to bring a new commercial cultivar to pastoral or cropping farmers usually requires a minimum of eight to 10 years – sometimes even longer. Costs can run into the early millions of dollars for each cultivar.
This scale of investment means, of course, that plant intellectual property is hugely valuable and must be protected to enable future innovation and new research. Always on the lookout for the best quality seed, plant breeders and researchers are quite simply unsung achievers for their contribution and the value they deliver to our national economy.
The arable sector which produces these seeds generates $800 million in income with direct seed sales accounting for over $200 million, which is certainly bankable!
Thomas Chin
