Nuseed opens innovation centre in Australia

Nuseed, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nufarm Limited, recently opened a multi million dollar innovation centre in Horsham, Australia.

The innovation centre brings together Nuseed Australia's business services, logistics, sales and marketing and research and breeding activities and will be a global centre for Nuseed's canola breeding programs. The centre, when complete, will represent an investment of approximately $7 million.

Nufarm's Managing Director, Doug Rathbone, said the Nuseed business has established leading positions in its core focus crops of canola, sorghum and sunflower and is a key growth opportunity for Nufarm.

"The Horsham innovation centre will help support our product development and breeding programs, ensuring we have a strong pipeline of elite hybrid seeds that improve yields and deliver significant downstream value.

"We have a strong commitment to working with local growers on these programs so that they are the first to get access to these products," Mr Rathbone said.

Nuseed is Australia's leading canola seed company and has global operations in sorghum and sunflower. The company conducts breeding research in 10 countries and markets products in some 30 countries.

Nuseed General Manager, Brent Zacharias, said the opening is an important milestone for the company as it pursues its 'beyond yield' strategy.

"As well as delivering advanced genetics and high yielding seed products to our farmer customers, Nuseed is investing in projects which improve the fundamental value of harvested crops through seed technology."

These projects include commercialised products such as:

1.'Monola', a canola oil developed to have twice the fry stability of standard canola, providing a healthier oil alternative for use in restaurant and food industries; and
2.BMR sorghum, a forage sorghum that significantly improves energy conversion, leading to productivity improvements in livestock.

Current development projects include:

1.'Wholis', a premium food grade, gluten free sorghum now being trialled by major food companies; and
2.DHA-rich canola, a plant based, renewable source of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

Mr Zacharias said the DHA canola project is a collaboration with CSIRO and the GRDC, and represents a very exciting and valuable opportunity. The project will be centrally managed from the Horsham facility.

30 employees will be based at the Horsham centre, which includes offices, warehouse facilities, laboratories and glasshouses.