Friday, March 29, 2024

Dairy focus at AgResearch

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The new $45 million education, science and innovation precinct at Lincoln will include a strong focus on driving advances in the dairy industry. 
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Research, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Megan Woods said the funding will give AgResearch the capital needed to move to the next phase of building a scientific research facility and corporate headquarters on the Lincoln University campus.

AgResearch will apply for resource and building consents later this year and hopes to start construction in 2021. The completion of the facility housing 200 staff is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023. 

Research director Dr Trevor Stuthridge said the facility will have three key dairy-related goals: to drive technologies, study the relationship between genetics and food quality and investigate resilience.

“A major focus will be driving advances in the digital agriculture space to support the New Zealand dairy sector,” Stuthridge said. 

“We think a key advantage of having a modern, top-class, new research facility at Lincoln is that it will help us attract new partners from around the world who work on the cutting edge with new technology platforms, which we can help Kiwi dairy farmers to adapt and adopt on their farms.

“In the years ahead the ability to harness the vast amount of data available on-farm from sensors and other technologies will be crucial to staying ahead in the global marketplace.” 

The second focal point will be a deeper dive into research around the relationship between genetics and food quality and work around provenance of dairy products and how best to take advantage of that. 

Finally, the centre will address the resilience of the dairy industry and how it can best respond to climate change and pests and the rise of new markets. It will also help farmers respond to changing environmental standards and policies and to future-proof their operations. 

“We are already working with multiple other organisations on various projects in the dairy space, such as the trial seeking to identify a possible link between the methane cows produce and their genetics, but we think the new Lincoln facility will help us become even better aligned with the likes of the universities on the most pressing issues for the dairy sector,” Stuthridge said.

AgResearch chairman Dr Paul Reynolds said the facility will encourage more collaboration in food and fibre research and innovation to help farmers and growers manage challenges and seize opportunities for getting more economic value out of products.

“NZ needs research facilities to help generate innovative science that ensures our export products remain internationally sought after. 

“The build will be a significant boost to the Canterbury economy, land-based science and the farming sectors.”

AgResearch bought a 15,000 square metre block from Lincoln University earlier this year. The co-location arrangement means both research entities can consolidate their already close working relationship. The total budget for the 8000 square metre build is about $97m.

Originally it was planned to build a $206m joint facility with 900 scientists from Crown research institutes including AgResearch, Landcare Research, Plant and Food Research and DairyNZ.

It would have been the largest agricultural research centre in the southern hemisphere and was considered crucial to Lincoln’s future. However, Lincoln is now going it alone with a new building next to the AgResearch one.

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