Flower breeding opened scientific doors for Abundant

Abundant Produce have interviewed their research manager, Graham Brown, on the company's roots in science. Here's what he has to say.

I understand that you founded Abundant Produce around five years ago, but your career in plant science and breeding started some time before that?
Oh yes, quite some time. I joined Sydney University’s Plant Breeding Institute in 1973, helping survey cereal rust pathogenicity – the ability of a type of fungus to damage cereal crops like wheat. The surveys continue to this day, as a vital service to the grains industry, but my focus shifted to breeding durable, rust resistant wheat, an area I worked in until the 1990’s.

Which is when you moved to horticulture?
That’s right. The University expanded into horticultural breeding and related research on cytology, embryology, pathology, and propagation of flowers and turf grasses.

Which is where Nuflora comes into the picture? Can you tell us a little more about that?
At first the University entered into a joint venture with a local business called PPPA to breed new flowering plant varieties. Following initial successes, Nuflora was formed as the best vehicle to translate the intellectual property into an ongoing royalty business.

And this new business model worked?
It did. NuFlora, which is 38% owned by the university, was an Australian first in profitable plant development and in exploiting desirable traits in Australian Native species. We became internationally recognised, developing more than 150 new varietals.

We brought new plants to market including Argyranthemum, Blue Sutera, Double Trailing Petunia, Tiny Tunia, Arctotis and Double Gazania.

A clear win/win situation, all around, then. So Nuflora paved the way for Abundant?
Its success opened the door, of course, but did more than that. Nuflora’s breeding programs are based on the philosophy of releasing ‘minimum input’ varieties. This means breeding plants with reduced requirements for water, fertilizer and pesticides. They also focus on developing broad heat-range tolerances.

We’ve adopted similar breeding philosophies at Abundant, starting with cucumbers and tomatoes - both huge food crops - and moving to capsicums, zucchinis, eggplants, chillies, and pumpkins.

Additionally, Nuflora provides the contractual framework that allows Abundant Produce to contribute to, and share, university resources including staff, greenhouses and research labs. And of course profits.

For more information:
Abundant Produce
Suite 8, 6th Floor,
55 Miller Street,
Pyrmont, NSW 2009,
Australia
Phone: +61 2 9571 8300
Fax: +61 2 9571 8200
abundantproduce.com