The value of exotic germplasm to the NZ livestock industry

Abstract

A number of recent reports in New Zealand have stated that restricted access to new plant genetic material from overseas is a major risk to the future growth of the primary sector. This paper reviews one part of the overall problem by discussing the historical role of exotic forage germplasm in plant improvement in New Zealand, and quantifies the current contribution of recently imported plant material to exports from the pastoral sector. In the past 30 years there has been a large increase in the number of improved cultivars. There are now 115 forage cultivars of 26 species available to farmers, compared with 20 cultivars and 12 species in the early 1970s. 65 per cent of these contain exotic germplasm. The current annual contribution of cultivars containing exotic forage germplasm to New Zealand pastoral exports of around $14 billion is $735 million. This represents an almost 6 fold increase over the figure of $128 million in 1992, which is significantly faster than the 75% increase in pastoral exports in the same period. A more important issue is the loss of future opportunities which will result from the continuation of restricted access to novel material from overseas. These include responses to climate change, biosecurity breaches and developments in biotechnology, food type and quality and endophyte. A return to the well tried system of accredited institutions carrying out field evaluations under supervision is proposed.