Many farmers know New Zealand is a world leader in ryegrass endophyte research and development. What you may not know, however, is that Barenbrug was the first company in the Southern Hemisphere to begin researching and developing ryegrass endophytes 30 years ago.

 

We were first to market with animal safe endophyte technology when it became available here and today we market more endophytes than any other company in NZ, including our own NEA family of endophytes.

Collectively, the NEA family now accounts for much of the total NZ ryegrass endophyte market. We believe they provide the best combination of animal health and insect control that you can buy.

 

Because they pose very little risk of ryegrass staggers in sheep, beef cattle and dairy cows, they have an outstanding animal safety record.

 

This comes with good control of key pests like Argentine stem weevil and black beetle to support pasture persistence.

 

NEA2 endophyte was first launched to farmers in Tolosa perennial ryegrass in 2001, and is now available in Trojan and Rohan. NEA comes in Shogun hybrid ryegrass and our newest endophyte NEA4 will be launched this autumn in tetraploid perennial Viscount.

 

All have been put through a lengthy NZ trial programme to ensure they perform the way we say they will, both in terms of animal safety and insect resistance. These trials are on-going as we develop new ryegrass/endophyte combinations for the future.

 

Since 2006, we have invested in endophyte research and discovery at the Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative Research Centre in Victoria, which has now genotyped 400 separate endophytes.

 

In November we also opened a new 2000 square metre cool store (our third), capable of holding 1500 tonnes of seed. This is specifically designed to store endophyte in ideal conditions, and is a vital part of our infrastructure for ensuring seed arrives on farm at the right time, with the best levels of endophyte.