There is anger in the South after leaked documents revealed AgResearch has ignored recommendations to save key parts of the Invermay agricultural research centre in Dunedin.
The University of Otago remains in discussions with AgResearch over its plan to slash jobs at Invermay and hopes to ''influence'' its restructuring plans.
AgResearch, in its determination to concentrate research and administration in hubs in Palmerston North and Lincoln, is making a mistake.
Federated Farmers Otago president Stephen Korteweg says he is heartened by an assurance that dry stock farm system capability to support deer, sheep and beef farming will be retained at Invermay, and that AgResearch's linkage with the University of Otago's genetics team will be maintained.
The fight to convince AgResearch's board to rethink its restructuring proposals will continue, despite confirmation of its plans to downsize Invermay.
No public information about the restructuring of Invermay is likely now before October 3, its finance and business performance director, David Godwin, says.
A phone call from AgResearch's chairman has given Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull hope political pressure is being applied to keep jobs at Invermay.
As Otago struggles with layoffs and reduced hours for manufacturing workers, the region's unemployment rate continues to climb, rising 37% in the year to June.
Agresearch has turned around its financial performance, reporting a net annual profit after tax of $6.2 million, during a "pivotal year".
The controversial closure of a possum research unit near Dunedin last year has resulted in an employment payout, and questions about a Government agency's decision-making.
State science company AgResearch says it will commercialise a wool dyeing process which allows vibrant colouring of wool fabrics and could potentially earn millions of dollars.
Rewards from science are not always immediate, but when they come they make up for the months of work and effort, John McEwan says.
Green Party MP Sue Kedgley wants an urgent parliamentary inquiry into the ethics and animal welfare issues of AgResearch's genetic engineering of livestock.
State science company AgResearch says it will slim down its applications for approval of genetic engineering of multiple species of animals after being told by regulators they won't be approved.
Genetically modified cows were born with ovaries that grew so large they caused ruptures, killing the calves, during research on human fertility treatments that went horribly wrong.
AgResearch is bidding to create herds of genetically modified animals to help people fight rare conditions. Chris Barton, of The New Zealand Herald, reports on both sides of the vigorous debate.
An anti-genetic engineering (GE) group wants to take the State science researcher to the Supreme Court after its bid to block transgenic livestock research was thrown out.
Agresearch is proposing to shed nine staff from its Invermay campus as part of redundancy plans which could result in the Crown Research Institute Institute (CRI) cutting back its total workforce of employees by more than 40 people.
