About Us

Purpose

By investing in the development and supply of improved and innovative plant cultivars and endophytes to farmers, PBRA members contribute to the continued success of New Zealand’s world-leading agricultural sector.

The organisation represents plant breeders, intellectual property owners and managers of proprietary agricultural seed. The Association’s members are companies whose primary focus is the development and marketing of plant intellectual property through demonstrating the strength of research-proven standards of performance.

For farmers, the PBRA and its members provide the following:

The PBRA also undertakes the following industry activities:

Structure

The PBRA has a number of committees (detailed below), each with specific tasks:

Executive Committee
Forage Technical Committee (FTC)
Cereal Performance Trial Committee (CPT)
Endophyte Technical Committee (ETC)
Marketing and Communications Committee

Key Contacts

There are two staff members who undertake work on behalf of the PBRA.

Chief Executive

Sarah Clark

Sarah joined the Seed Industry office as Chief Executive in 2025, after 14 years of public service at Ministry for Primary Industries. Most recently managing and leading the Plant Germplasm Imports/Live Plants Team.

Sarah is very much looking forward to engaging with members and hearing about what’s important, and what opportunities, issues and challenges are for the industry.

She grew up in Southland, attended University of Otago receiving a Doctor of Philosophy Biochemistry, followed by lecturing at Otago University in biochemistry, molecular biology, metabolism and plant biotechnology.

Sarah looks forward to working with members and industry stakeholders.

Operations & Events manager

Sharon Dawe

When Sharon Dawe took on the role of office manager at the Seed Industry office in 2020, she was very familiar with the New Zealand Plant Breeders Research Association (PBRA) as well as the wider grain and seed industry.

Having worked for New Zealand Grain & Seed, Arable Food Industry and PBRA’s accountants’ Staples Rodway (now Baker Tilly Staples Rodway) for 20 years, Sharon had an understanding of the seed industry and the PBRA’s particular requirements. This meant she was able to bring her skills and experience in-house.

 Her responsibilities include looking after the accounts payable and receivable and preparing the contracts and agreements for the performance and production trials each year.

She describes her work at the Seed Industry office as being varied and plentiful, but she particularly enjoys learning about the industry and dealing with hard-working people who are appreciative of all she does.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is comprised of executive members of each of the PBRA Member companies.

They are tasked with overseeing the vision for the PBRA as well as being involved in high level policy and government relations, industry development and promotion and relationships with other industry bodies.  The PBRA Technical groups all report to the Executive Committee.

History

The NZPBRA was formed in 1977 following the passing of The Plant Varieties Act in 1973, a legislative development that dramatically changed New Zealand’s seed sector. 

Prior to this, seed research and the breeding of improved cultivars had been the exclusive domain of the DSIR.  The Plant Variety Rights (PVR) law protected the ownership of new cultivars and ensured that plant breeders would receive a return on their investment by way of royalties on proprietary seed sold.

As a result of this legislation, seed companies began their own plant breeding programmes and the PBRA was formed. In 1991, the PBRA set up and started the National Forage Variety Trial (NFVT) system. This was a major step forward for the organisation as well as farmers and retailers, who were able to access regional-specific and national information on cultivar performance.

The next step for the PBRA was the trialling of cereal varieties. Trials started in 1993 under the umbrella of ACE (Arable Cultivar Evaluation) with five trial sites in Canterbury evaluating autumn feed and milling wheats. By 1995, the programme had expanded to include barley and spring sowings, and Southland and Manawatu were added to the trialling site list. In 1998, the name changed to the Cereal Performance Trials (CPT).

The PBRA also formed an Endophyte Technical Committee to review endophyte strains and how they perform against insect pests. They also take into consideration animal safety and performance when grazed.