AgResearch confirms Invermay to stay

AgResearch has finally confirmed its key science staff will not be moving from Invermay, cementing the position of the research campus in Dunedin.

AgResearch acting chief executive Tony Hickmott visited Invermay yesterday to deliver the news and to apologise to staff for a restructure process that had taken "too long’’.

"We have acknowledged this and we are aware of the toll it has taken on some of our people.’’

The decision meant 30 animal science staff at Invermay would no longer need to relocate to Lincoln as part of the Future Footprint restructure plan unveiled in 2013.

It also appeared the use of the term Future Footprint was itself done.

"We’ve not used that phrase for some time,’’ Mr Hickmott said.

AgResearch would still "occasionally’’ need to review where staff were based, but "our change programme at Invermay is finished’’, he said.

The comments were welcomed yesterday by Dunedin North Labour MP David Clark, a key figure in the campaign to protect sheep genetics and genomics scientists and support staff at Invermay.

"It’s confirmation Invermay has been saved and it’s a tribute to the nearly 13,000 people who signed my petition.’’

Yesterday’s developments came almost a month after Invermay was first declared saved, based on a letter of expectation sent to AgResearch by Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods.

It emphasised the need to maintain Invermay as "a centre of research for the primary sector, especially in respect of sheep genetics and genomics’’ and included a requirement to "maintain human and physical capital already developed’’ at the site.

However, doubts soon emerged again as it was revealed Invermay staff had not been briefed on whether they would still have to move, while AgResearch refused to answer key questions about their future.

Yesterday, Mr Hickmott said AgResearch had reviewed its strategies this year, leading to the decision to keep existing animal science teams "at their current locations".

"Invermay is and always has been a vibrant campus and it is our intention that it remains so for many years to come.

"We believe we currently have the right people in the right locations ... and ... we have listened to messages from our people about the importance of maintaining vibrant regional research centres.’’

It still came too late for more than 40 staff who had quit Invermay since the Future Footprint plan was announced.

AgResearch also confirmed earlier this year it had scrapped plans for a joint $206million Lincoln campus, and would instead investigate building its own facility at the campus.

Mr Hickmott said yesterday a development at Lincoln remained "vital’’ for AgResearch’s future.

"It will be smaller than previously proposed versions,’’ he said.