Professor Alison Stewart 
NZIAHS Fellow becomes a Dame

My congratulations to Professor Alison Stewart, chief executive of the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR), on her appointment as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to plant science and the arable sector.
Alison has been involved with plant science and plant pathology for all her working career, shifting to arable when she joined FAR in 2018.
The official announcement noted that Emeritus Distinguished Professor Alison Stewart, CNZM, is an internationally renowned plant scientist with a 40-year career focused on sustainable plant protection, soil biology and plant biotechnology.
She is a great proponent of cross-sector engagement, fostering collaboration between researchers, growers, government and industry stakeholders for continuous improvement.
Throughout her career, Alison has been a strong mentor of young scientists and future agricultural leaders, encouraging innovative and ambitious thinking to address New Zealand’s agricultural challenges.
She was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009 for her contributions to biology and plant pathology.

Other career honours and achievements include:

• PhD in Plant Pathology from the University of Stirling (1984)
• Professor at Lincoln University (1998)
• Agricom Significant Achievement Award for Research Excellence (2001)
• AgResearch Technology Transfer Award (2002)
• Founding Director of the Bio-Protection Research Centre at Lincoln University (2003-2011)
• Fellow of NZIAHS (2006)
• MAFBNZ Biosecurity Award for Excellence (2008)
• Distinguished Professor of Plant Pathology, Lincoln University (2011)
• Bayer – NZ Innovators Award (2012)
• President Marrone Bio Innovations, USA (2013)
• General Manager, Forestry Science, Scion (2015)
• 78CEO of Foundation for Arable Research (2018)

The New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science

A bit more information about the future of public science organisations emerged with news of the appointment of Mark Piper as the Transition Chief Executive of the New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science, taking up the new position on the formation of the new institute on 1 July. He will support the board and staff through the merging of AgResearch, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Plant & Food Research and Scion into a single organisation. Mark is currently CEO of Plant & Food Research. From 1 July, the CEOs of the four CRIs involved in the merger will continue to lead their current organisations as groups within the amalgamated Bioeconomy Science Institute. The board of the new institute intends to initiate an external search process to appoint a permanent CEO within the next 12  months.
More than 2200 employees, including 1440 research staff, will be embraced by the amalgamation.
The new institute will be charged with conducting research to advance innovation in agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture, forestry, biotechnology and manufacturing; protect and enhance ecosystems from biosecurity threats and climate risks; and develop new bio-based technologies and products.

Budget 2025

Members who read the press statement from Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology Dr Shane Reti on Budget Day may well have thought the ag/hort sector had done quite nicely from Budget 2025.

Dr Reti highlighted three initiatives in his Budget media release Hon Dr Shane Reti: Growth-promoting science and innovation backed – 22 May 2025

• $20 million over two years to support the establishment of the Bioeconomy, Earth Sciences and Health and Forensic Public Research Organisations.
• $23 million over the forecast period to establish the dedicated gene technology regulator, as well as compliance, monitoring and enforcement of the new regime.
• $5.8 million over the forecast period to establish and operate the Prime Minister’s Science, Innovation and Technology Advisory Council. This funding will support reporting and monitoring, as well as a secretariat provided by MBIE.

At first sight, that sounds great, with almost $50 million of new spending, or is it?
As AgScience reported at the time, the establishment of the new public research organisations implies the money will be spent not on science and research, but on the way public science is organised and administered.
Similarly, the money earmarked for gene technology will be devoted to regulatory and administrative work.
The third initiative to receive funding will serve a policy-shaping and administrative purpose.
The Minister would have disheartened researchers when he said:
These initiatives are being funded by reprioritising existing funding from the Science, Innovation and Technology portfolio.
This suggests that the sum of money intended for actual research will be reduced by $48.8 million. The overall appropriation for Science, Innovation and Technology is about $45 million less than was appropriated in Budget 2024.
With several research grants facing funding cuts, including the MBIE Endeavour Fund being cancelled for 2026, Science sector faces biggest overhaul in decades, warns cuts will put new research at risk | RNZ News, it is difficult to see how researchers are going to keep science moving forward whilst having to navigate the current uncertainty, or lack, of funding to pay for the day to day costs of doing science.
One observer described Budget 2025 as ‘shuffling the deckchairs for science’ funding cuts. Let’s hope that, unlike the Titanic, we can navigate the rapidly approaching ‘iceberg’.

Conference

Organising the  2025 Plant Science Central Conference is progressing at pace, with now less than a month to go. The programme is coming together with presentations covering a wide range of plant science topics being scheduled. The provisional programme will be available on the AgScience website shortly Plant Science Central Conference – NZIAHS. For those who have not yet registered, there is still time to join us at the conference in Palmerston North from 1-3 July. Also, there is still the opportunity to present a poster. Please contact Jenny for details. For presenters at the conference, there is an opportunity to publish a paper based on your presentation in a special issue of the New Zealand Journal for Crop and Horticultural Science. Note that these papers will still need to go through the usual editorial process. For details, please contact Jenny or Mo Li Plant Science Central Conference – NZIAHS The NZIAHS AGM will be held at the conference on 2 July. A link will be established for those unable to attend in person.

2025 Plant Science Central Conference sponsors