One of the high-performing teams within the PGG Wrightson Seeds’ New Zealand business, which operates largely away from the public eye, is the Arable business unit.



This business unit which works alongside specialist arable farmers is based in Canterbury, New Zealand’s most intense arable production region. The team of 18 arable specialists is located throughout the South Island in key arable areas.



The team, which was formed in 2006, is led by PGG Wrightson Seeds Arable Business Unit Manager Graeme Jones.



Graeme said, “The formation of the team came about as our arable customers had a number of PGG Wrightson (PGW) staff they were dealing with across the Company which resulted in some confusion and duplication of effort. We needed to change our thinking to build the best agronomic platform to service and support our arable customers and the PGW Seeds business. We concluded that the best way to service and interact with our arable customers was to have a primary relationship – a representative who specialised in seed production who also had a high level of agronomy and technical expertise.



“The two things that drive our business unit are seeds and agronomy. As a result, our team is required to perform at a strong level of service, market knowledge and technical knowledge.



“New Zealand has some of the best arable seed production in the world. We have good soils, irrigation (reliable water supply) and optimal climatic (reasonably consistent) conditions. As a result, we are able to provide quality and reliable seed and grain production. We have developed a hands on approach between ourselves and our arable customers, but to compete in the global market we cannot rely on that alone. There is also a technical requirement to produce seed at the highest quality and yield per hectare.



“A significant competitive advantage for us is the support of the highly experienced PGW Seeds research and development (R&D) team. Developing a new cultivar can take more than 10 years of intensive work and the R&D team share their expertise with us, which we in turn share with our customers. The R&D team run many agronomic and cultivar field trials during that development period on our customers’ farms so they are invested in future cultivars as much as we are.

“Our customers require a high level of technical and market knowledge so it is critical to provide them with support that will add value to their farming operation and work alongside them in an industry where innovation is fast-moving. So we need to be ahead of the game,“ said Graeme.

One member of the Arable business unit who has been working alongside arable farmers for 20 years is PGW Seeds Arable Representative Shane Butler. Shane works with arable farmers in Mid Canterbury and one of his customers is Eric and Maxine Watson.



Shane said, “Eric and Maxine are passionate arable farmers who are willing to learn about and adopt new technologies regarding the latest arable research and development which adds value to their arable farming business.



“Our wider PGW Seeds team is equally as passionate about arable farming. Remaining competitive in global markets, and maximising seed yield and quality are our key goals. We can achieve this with customers, such as Eric and Maxine Watson, through sharing the R&D and technology innovation by bringing it onto farm in a practical application both through field trials and seed production,” said Shane.



The Watsons run a 490 hectare property in Wakanui. The farm is a fully irrigated property growing a range of arable crops for PGW Seeds including; ryegrass, tall fescue, timothy, red fescue, plantain, chicory, linseed, wheat, triticale and barley.



Eric said, “Our family has been involved with PGW (and its predecessors) for three generations. We have been loyal to them and in turn they have looked after us. We view our relationship with Shane and the team at PGW as a partnership. We fire ideas around and between us we come up with the best way forward. We rely heavily on the technical knowledge of Shane and the wider PGW Seeds team.



“As a specialised arable operation, maximum yield is the key outcome for us and we continue to achieve that with Shane. We are involved in field trials and the more we understand the development of cultivars the better outcome we can gain through yield when we grow them as production or multiplication crops. Shane is an essential part of our business and he helps us get the best out of our crops,” said Eric.