NZ innovator sets up at Adelaide’s Waite Campus

New Zealand-based science and innovation company Plant & Food Research is setting up a base at the University of Adelade to boost its developments through collaboration.

Plant & Food Research has previously worked with the University of Adelaide on agricultural product development, almond orchard systems and harvest technologies.

The new local entity, Plant & Food Research Australia, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the New Zealand science organisation Plant & Food Research, an NZ government-owned Crown Research Institute.

The move will provide Plant & Food Research Australia with access to world-class facilities and drive research collaborations aimed at enhancing production, sustainability and value-adding in the horticulture, food and agriculture industries.

Plant & Food Research Australia joins 15 organisations already based at the University of Adelaide’s Waite Campus including CSIRO, The Australian Wine Research Institute, Australian Grain Technologies and the South Australia Research and Development Institute.

University of Adelaide vice-chancellor Professor Peter Rathjen said the campus had been at the heart of development of food industries and agriculture in South Australia for almost a century.

“Now with more than 250 academic staff at the university directly involved in agrifood and wine education and research we continue to lead research and innovation in these sectors,” Rathjen said.

Plant & Food Research is also a partner in a new University of Adelaide-led research consortium formed to increase the value of agricultural waste by turning it into new products.