Swede seed claims not compromised in PGG Wrightson Seeds' sale

Swedes grown from PGG Wrightson Seeds' seeds. Photo: PGGW Seeds

The potential sale of PGG Wrightson Seed will have no impact on farmers tied up in the HT Swede debacle, the company says.

Last week, PGG Wrightson Limited announced the PGG Wrightson Seed has entered into an agreement to sell the seed business for $NZ421million to DLF Seeds A/S (DLF Seeds).

The transaction is subject to standard completion adjustments and is a sale of all the shares in PGG Wrightson Seed.

Concerns were raised as to what this meant for farmers who were mistakenly sold HT-S57 swede by PGG Wrightson Seeds instead of Hawkestone yellow-fleshed Cleancrop swede.

PGG Wrightson Seeds general manager David Green said the short answer was it had no impact.

''It has no impact on our position and the way any claims will be dealt with.''

The sale to DLF was subject to conditions and in the meantime it was business as usual, he said. Farmers applying for compensation for the swede mix up could continue to do so as normal.

The approach to how the claims would be treated was exactly the same now as it was then, Mr Green said.

''We've had a handful of claims in at this stage. People are only getting to the end of the claims now.''

Mr Green said PGG Wrightson was aware of a small number of issues, mostly with photosensitivity.

Winter had been normal, which proved favourable for those who had planted the swedes, Mr Green said.

''Things have pretty much behaved themselves. There was one or two issues around transitioning.''

It was mainly the gutsy ones in the herd, he said.

Farmers could make a claim at any point, but PGG Wrightson expected most after winter. Farmers were advised to document everything.

Mr Green said farmers would be compensated for any costs required to mitigate the use of the swede.

All claims have to be lodged by December 1, 2018.

Southern Rural Life