About Canola Breeders
Canola Breeders Western Australia Pty Ltd was established in July 2001 from an alliance between the Council of Grain Grower Organisations Ltd (COGGO), The University of Western Australia, and Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC). Within 12 months, the new company had attracted a fourth major investor, Nordddeutsche Pflanzenzucht Hans George Lembke (NPZ-Lembke), a 100-year-old family-owned plant breeding company in Germany, who are leaders in hybrid canola breeding in Europe and North America.
This unique combination of investment partners working together has created many benefits for the partners and for canola growers throughout Australia:
- Australian growers now share ownership and have control over the future direction of canola breeding
- Investors in the company are leading the change to a competitive private model of canola breeding in Australia, following global trends
- Canola Breeders investors support high quality local research and training in plant breeding at UWA and other universities here in Australia
Canola Breeders is based at The University of Western Australia. Through this association Canola Breeders has access to an exceptional range of expertise and facilities that help it breed new high yielding canola varieties for difficult environments in Australia and elsewhere. Some of the innovative techniques being developed and used include molecular markers for genetic distance studies and variety identification; extensive use of doubled haploid and single seed decent populations for rapid selection; and increasing knowledge of disease resistance mechanisms, herbicide resistance and seed oil quality characteristics.
Breeding Strategy
Investors in the company are
- Council of Grain Grower Organisations (COGGO) Ltd
http://www.coggo.net.au/ - The University of Western Australia (UWA)
http://www.uwa.edu.au/ - Norddeutsche Pflanzenzucht Hans-Georg Lembke KG (NPZ-Lembke)
http://www.npz.de/ - Grains Research and Development Corporation
http://www.grdc.com.au/
