A new Crown Research Institute created from the merger of HortResearch and Crop and Food opened for business on Monday.
The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research will combine the horticulture, arable and seafood research functions of the two former institutes in a single, focused organisation.
The merged organisation brings together more than 900 staff based at sites throughout New Zealand as well as science and business development staff working in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Plant and Food Research chief executive Peter Landon-Lane said all existing research sites will continue and attrition may avoid the need for any redundancies in support or administrative staff.
Research, Science and Technology Minister Dr Wayne Mapp welcomed the merger as a milestone for New Zealand science.
He said it had combined knowledge and expertise in nationally important areas such as sustainable production, elite genetics, and food and health, which were previously segregated.
