Australia
October 31, 2018
Seed Force hosted three key customers on a 10-day study tour to Argentina and Uruguay in September 2018.
The group visited with several of Seed Force’s regional plant genetics partners, including Gentos Seeds and Forage Genetics International.
The Seed Force group inspecting grass and legume pasture trials in South America.
Troy Higgins from CRT Gloucester Rural, Steven Fulton from Landmark Mount Gambier, and Nathaniel Brazel, Richardson’s Hardware and Agriculture, Walcha, took part in the trip.
Seed Force technical extension agronomist, David Leah, led the group.
“We were so pleased to have the opportunity to take these guys to visit our pasture seed partners in Argentina and Uruguay, as well as have some time to see the sights of Buenos Aires and other places,” he said.
“The three companies that joined us are important customer partners of ours, and Troy, Steven and Nat all provide advice and services to mixed farming operations in their respective businesses.
“The schedule was designed to give them exceptional access to our South American pasture genetics partners – so that they would come away with a better understanding of the types of products and research these businesses provide, and what’s coming through the pipeline.”
The group spent significant time with Gentos, at their two research and experimental development centres, located at Pergamino, Buenos Aires and Colonia, Uruguay.
Gentos hosted the Seed Force study tour in Argentina and Uruguay.
“Gentos are leaders is pasture genetics, and a key partner of ours,” said David.
“They specialise in breeding, cultivar evaluation and seed production for grass and legume pastures, with a focus on high-performance varieties to optimise animal production systems.”
These include varieties introduced to the Australian market by Seed Force, such as SF RoyalQ-100 tall fescue, SF Maté phalaris and SF Jeronimo prairie grass.
“We spent quite a bit of time with their breeding and research teams at the Pergamino and Colonia research sites, as well as touring one of their very high milk production farms,” David continued.
“They were very generous with their time and knowledge, sharing the details of their genetic breeding programs and processes.
Thumbs up from the group at Gentos
“We work closely with Gentos, particularly on their varieties that we have in Australia, but seeing the whole operation and understanding their pipeline was just fantastic – very valuable.”
The group also visited Forage Genetics International’s research farms and trial sites at Marcos Juarez in Cordoba, Argentina.
“Lucerne material from Argentina has to withstand high levels of pest and disease pressure so selecting top performing lines from this environment has helped us establish some strong brands in Australia, such as SF 714QL and SF 914QL,” David explained.
Of course, some sightseeing and tourist hotspots were also on the schedule, with the group taking time to explore Buenos Aires and Colonia.
“We really packed quite a lot into the 10 days we were there,” David said.
“Our Argentine and Uruguayan hosts were friendly and welcoming, keen to share and learn between us all.
“It was wonderful to share a great experience with the group.”
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