10
December 2013
STRAIGHT TALKING with Jim Childerstone
What exactly is Agresearch up to? A few straight answers please! A letter to Steven Joyce, Minister of Science and Innovation (RSVP) Dear Steven, Please forgive me if I call you by your first name. But as 99 percent shareholder of AgResearch on our behalf you will understand that as a publicly elected member of Parliament you are basically a servant of the people.
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We have a big problem Steven. Nothing stacks up regarding the shifting of some 75 scientists and technicians from Invermay research centre to the so called ‘hub’ at Lincoln. I hate to think that politics may have come into this to satisfy the voting public of Christchurch and Canterbury. It’s the economics of the move that makes no sense. Nor the social issues affecting some of the world class scientists established within the Dunedin ‘hub’. Statements emanating from yourself and the AgResearch executive gives few clues as to the reasons why. We need simple clarification in a column specialising in ‘straight talking’. That is sorting out hyperbole, gobble-de-gook and pedantic verbiage. As a graduate of the one-time Canterbury University Agricultural College, Lincoln, back in the late 1950s I have kept in touch with fellow students,
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mostly degree graduates in the sciences and economics. Lincoln has since become a full university and departed somewhat from pure agricultural courses. It now links with Telford polytech near Balclutha. Several of these Lincoln graduates, since retired, spent many years in research at Invermay. None of them can see any benefits of AgResearch's Future Footprint. Its going to take three to four years to implement, says AgResearch. Dr Ken Drew spent a good part of his life building up the Deer Unit with Jim Suttee, mainly in the field of genetics and veterinary science, for the benefit of New Zealand's deer farming industry. Dr Malcolm Douglas spent time to improve high country pasture and livestock production at the Tara Hills Research Station. Later shifted to Redbank Crop and Food institute near Clyde to develop alternative crops which supported the booming Central Otago wine industry. This included such alternative crops as lavender, echinacea and a variety of herbs for commercial use. His final years ended at Invermay's crop and food division. Other researchers were involved in alternative crops varying from nut trees to shitaki fungi. Research stations one after another were canned by sucessive governments ignoring localised soil and climatic conditions. And more recently there has been a major misunderstanding between AgResearch and the University of Otago as to co-operation in interrelated research, particularly on genetics. You seem to think there had been little relationship between them Steven. I don't think your advisors and contacts are giving you a true practical picture. How about taking note of what former director of Invermay, Dr Jock Allison had to say. Or what Prof Frank Griffin of OU's microbiology department has to say. I see BERL has asked searching questions on the
economics of the move. You see, Steven, Invermay has in the last few years established modern buildings and laboratories as part of the ongoing research capacity. So what happens when two thirds of the workforce is shifted north leaving a few researchers to rattle around half empty buildings. And then AgResearch has to earmark some $300 million of new buildings (possibly plus new homes) to house new staff. Doesn't make much sense, does it? It involves more taxpayer money at a time when CRIs are crying for more funding. On top of everything else we learned earlier in November that six Invermay staff, four of them highly qualified leaders, have quit. According to the local media the sole reason was due to the uncertainty of the future moves. Also it has been recently divulged that some 60 staff have no intention of moving to Lincoln. Thus more attrition. An ideal head hunting ground by offshore institutions. So you reckon that recent staff departures from Invermay ‘is within normal expectations’. It would seem the end result within the timeframe the Lincoln hub may attract a possible ten researchers. AgResearch's executive according to reports are in continuous consultation with all personnel. It must have some idea of who is willing to relocate and who is not. Please keep us in the picture. The Otago University's Associate Prof Richard Blaikie, deputy vice-chancellor research and enterprise, has written a very clear report published in the local daily media clarifying the relationship between the University and Invermay which spelt out how both institutes worked together. You might like to read this Steven. I can send a cutting if you cannot pick it up from the ODT email. It categorically states that in just one project alone, the mapping of the sheep genome, there are six OU genetics scientists, students and
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technical support staff involved alongside similar numbers from Invermay, together with the collection of national and international collaborators that are required for such work. Altogether, a 200 plus group of scientists from many organisations connected through the Genetics Otago brand that represents the strongest such network in the southern hemisphere. Steven this is vital work and has to be retained in Otago. And please explain your statement that it is ‘quite apparent that permanently freezing AgResearch the way it has always been, as being promoted by some people, would be detrimental to AgResearch and to the whole primary industry which benefits from its research’. Just a note Steven, we now have vastly improved information technology up our sleeve. We are now in the digital age, only seconds away from contact via email, search engines and visual appliances linking all parts of the world's research institutions and services. This is exactly what the University and Invermay have been doing over the past few decades. There is no sign of them being frozen to a standstill. Only lack of funding can achieve that. Thus myself, and a steadily building crescendo of opinion, ask you, as the ultimate CRI boss, to use your position as 99% shareholder to call off this fiasco before it irreparably damages our agricultural industry and NZ's reputation as a globally recognised leader in this field of research. Lets just use practical common sense and less waffle. We have a huge diversity of climatic, soil and contour conditions. This is not Canada or the USA which appears to be what AgResearch is attempting to implement when talking of bundling researchers into single hubs. My old mate, the late Prof JMB (Sandy) Smith, one-time chair of OU's Microbiology Department must be turning in his grave after all the earlier efforts he achieved with the department's link with Invermay. Yours faithfully Jim Childerstone
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