LongReach Plant Breeders has now stamped its mark on the wheat-breeding sector in Australia having turned 15 in 2017. Now with 20 varieties available in the market, LongReach is continuing to expand and work with the industry to release the best varieties available.
LongReach Plant Breeders was formed in 2002 as a joint venture between Syngenta Seeds Pty Ltd (now Syngenta Australia Pty Ltd) and AWB-Landmark. Syngenta purchased the Landmark share in 2006 and in late 2007, Advanta Seeds Pty Ltd purchased a majority share in the company from Syngenta. This partnership is still current today between Advanta Seeds and Syngenta Australia.
LongReach is acknowledged both in Australia and internationally as setting new standards in the management and operation of wheat breeding. LongReach aims to significantly reduce the period from the breeder’s cross to commercial variety release, known as the “breeding cycle”. Rapid breeding cycles are essential to enable growers to meet new pest and disease challenges and to enable them to meet changing market requirements.
This speed requires ready access to the best technologies and proprietary traits available in the world, and this is available through Syngenta. It requires the use of new breeding techniques and evaluation systems. Australia produces only 3% of the world’s wheat production annually, so with such a relatively small market, Australian seed companies must work to maintain access to the world’s best cereal breeding technology and germplasm.
Advanta Seeds under the Pacific Seeds branding provides the market muscle behind LongReach with the first right to commercialise LongReach varieties. As a respected seed business with over 50 years of history of achievement in Australia, it provides the commercial platform essential to ensuring growers have ready access to the best wheat varieties available.
LongReach Plant Breeders will provide the benefits of commercial competition and, through access to elite international germplasm and technology, achieve better and faster results for Australian wheat growers. Syngenta’s capacity in plant science, and Advanta Seeds commercial strength provides the LongReach operation with the necessary expertise and connection in the grains industry - spanning the complete chain from geneticists to end-users.