AgResearch scientist and reunion organising committee chairman John McEwan, of Mosgiel, said about 130 former and current staff members celebrated 75 years of research at the Invermay Agricultural Centre near Mosgiel last month.
As a book of the first 50 years of Invermay had been published, the reunion focused on the impact the work of the past 25 years had on the agricultural industry.
Tour stops on the 530ha campus included a meat laboratory, a feed intake facility and a computed tomography scanner, which was originally used to improve the genetic gain of the meat yield of sheep and deer.
The biggest change at Invermay in the past 25 years was the use of genomic selection, a scientific method using DNA information to predict the breeding value of an offspring by relating their traits to their genetic marker scores.
A biocontrol success story from Invermay was when clover root weevil was discovered in New Zealand pastures, a parasitic wasp was introduced as a way to control the pest.
The biocontrol saved clover and a need for farmers to apply nitrogen.
Other success stories include creating a vaccine to control parasites in deer and researching farm management systems to reduce nitrogen leaching.
Mr McEwan had been working at Invermay for more than 45 years.
Continual improvement of the pastoral agriculture industry would assist it to continue to play a major role in the New Zealand economy.
AgResearch research capability director Dave Houlbrooke said the reunion was a great event.
