WHERE ARE THE
SCIENTISTS?
One big question is glaringly raised by
the composition of the newly announced
Primary Sector Council, president of the
New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and
Horticultural Science president Dr Jill
Stanley says. Where are the scientists?
Agriculture and Rural Communities
minister Damien O’Connor has
described the council as a group
of visionary agribusiness leaders
whose task is to help our primary
sector capture more value from its work. It will
provide independent strategic advice to the
Government on issues confronting the primary
industries. Its first job will be to develop a
sector-wide vision, taking account of ideas – for
example - of sustainability, grower-to-plate
story-telling, pasture-fed protein and smarter use
of water. Good science is an essential component
of each of those and will be in most other
ideas the council considers. The council includes
DairyNZ strategy and investment leader for
people and business Mark Paine, previously the
Dairy Australia principal research fellow at the
University of Melbourne. His job at DairyNZ is to
address issues of recruitment, employment relationships,
leadership and career development in
the dairy industry. He oversees the strategy and
investment in dairy education and training, from
apprenticeships through to post graduate scholarships
and is responsible for the industry strategy
pertaining to the development of resources
for farm business management. Beyond Mark’s
name on the list of 15 appointees, there are no
scientists. This is a disappointing reflection on
the perceived value of including agri-science
leaders, be it senior scientists at AgResearch,
Plant & Food Research, Landcare Research,
Scion and ESR, let alone Massey or Lincoln
Universities. Presumably this is a deliberate
oversight, giving expression to a ministerial embrace
of ‘modern-think’ whereby it is believed
science will follow the lead set by innovators in
business. This is contrary to experience: history
shows science has led the way and enabled
new opportunities in business to emerge. The
chairman of the new council Lain Jager should at
least have a good understanding of what science
can do for the primary sector’s sustainability and
profitability. He is a former chairman of Zespri,
the world’s largest marketer of kiwifruit and a
company which owes a great deal to the multidisciplinary
team from Plant & Food Research,
which in February was awarded the 2017 Prime
Minister’s $500,000 Science Prize for the team’s
rapid and successful response to Pseudomonas
syringae pv. actinidiae, or Psa, which threatened
the destruction of the New Zealand kiwifruit
industry in 2010. The industry’s recovery was
enabled by the team’s development of a new
gold-fleshed kiwifruit cultivar, Actinidia chinensis
var. chinensis ‘Zesy002’, referred to by growers
as Gold3 and sold around the world as Zespri
SunGold Kiwifruit. Hundreds of genetically-diverse
selections were screened and evaluated
to find new cultivars with increased tolerance to
the disease while meeting grower requirements
and consumer demands for taste. Forty-eight
million trays of the new cultivar were sold last
season, with an export value of $686 million,
up 70% on the previous year and increasing by
around 10 million trays a year as newly-grafted
vines reach production. According to notes
on the science award website, it is estimated
that less than half the economic and social
benefits would be achievable without SunGold.
The team also developed molecular diagnostic
tests, a world-first and a breakthrough in the
fight against Psa which enabled rapid testing
of orchards to inform management plans and
provided a mechanism to screen new cultivars.
The track record of this team and so many of our
other agri-scientists is hugely impressive. It’s a
shame O’Connor has bypassed them. How will
the council be able to obtain the strong voice for
science that they obviously need to achieve their
goals? Will O’Connor consider expanding the
council? If he doesn’t, will the council realise the
need to draw on key people from the Royal Society
and the CRIs, or possibly consult the Prime
Minister’s chief scientist? Whoever they involve,
science clearly must play a key role in the plans
that the council recommends for creating a
value-added primary sector.
Center will become one of the most important
research centres in aquaculture, and the
newly-opened Agricultural Production Research
Station in Al Shahanyia will research animal
production.
LOOKING BACK, Banana Island chef Sanjay
Makoona – who manages 74 chefs in five countries
– says the resort specifically and Qatar
generally have coped well with the blockade’s
effect on food supply. His resorts go all out
to provide whatever the client – mainly from
Asia, the US, Europe, other Arabic countries
and Qatar – wants…and if it’s caviar from the
Caspian Sea or zucchinis from New Zealand,
they are nearly always in luck. He can see a
new horizon for the country, however. “Organic
food is considered to be very modern here, but
farms are starting to transform. The challenge
will be to get it right from the start.” And from
someone who oversees 1500 individual meals
a day, that’s quite the statement. It’s something,
however, that Mohammad Ali Al Kuwari agrees
with. Handing me a wafer stacked with his
company’s cheese, he s eager to know my comment.
Later on, back in the swanky confines of
the W Hotel in Doha, we try the rich and fruity
gelato he’s given me to try. “This,” I say incomprehensibly
with my mouth full, “was definitely
worth the taxi ride.” Even if I did get too close
for comfort to the Al Udeid Air Base.
www.foodtechnology.co.nz 21
MY SAY
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