Research

PGG Wrightson Grain is one of the largest private investors in cereal research in New Zealand with a proven record in breeding and evaluation, including a comprehensive agronomy programme that optimises the management for individual cultivars delivering an overall cultivar and management package for the benefit of growers and end-users.

The in-house plant breeding is focused on milling and feed wheat with a small grain triticale breeding effort. In addition to the full breeding effort, there are extensive screening and evaluation programmes to identify cultivars for release in NZ from overseas-bred wheat, barley, ryecorn, triticale and Linseed. Finally there is a joint breeding programme with Plant & Food Research on purple wheat as well as other research projects funded by industry bodies such as the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) and the New Zealand Flour Millers Research Trust (FMRT). Starting in 2020 a programme to develop soft milling cultivars to consistently deliver flour suitable for use in products other than biscuits such as sauce mixes, white salted noodles and ice-cream cones. This programme is being funded by the New Zealand Flour Millers Research Trust (FMRT)

R&D staff are located at the Kimihia Research Centre at Lincoln, Canterbury. Cereal research and agronomy is coordinated from Kimihia with trials located on large scale arable farms throughout the South Island.