Our journey into Pyrethrum began in 2015 when company founder Greg Duncan germinated the first seeds in a grow tunnel on his farm in Hawkes Bay.

During 2015 – 2016 these  1,000 seedlings were matured to ascertain if the plant would grow well in our climate and produce the pyrethrins as anticipated. Additionally, we wanted to know if those pyrethrins could be extracted and manufactured into a product using the resources available?
The answer was a resounding yes.

2016 – 2017 was the first expansion. An area was cleared and established using splits from the original seedlings.

Right from the start we said we wanted to avoid herbicides as much as possible, so all of the plants in phase two were put down through weed matting and benefited from drip irrigation.

There was a lot to learn but the plants matured very quickly and before you know it we had our first propper harvest on our hands.

2017 – 2018 had us very busy as we rushed to cope with the larger scale production.

• A dedicated drying facility was constructed.
• A new harvester was commissioned.
• A new rotovapor was purchased for the lab.
• Trials were initiated into automation.
• A plant cloning program was established.
• A seed cleaning machine was obtained.
• PYNZ28 and PYNZ500 formulations finalized.

We had done it ! We had proved it was possible and had successfully created a product that people were happy with. Where to from here? Onwards and upwards of course.

2018 – 2019
We investigated how to scale to industrial farming and talked to investors and partners about how to make this happen.

• Trials were conducted on automated field sowing of seed and weed control.
• The conclusion of our product registrations.
• The development of prototype two harvester.
• Our first export customer.

2019 – 2020.
Field trials were successful so it was time to add greater scale to our production capabilities.
Further plantings were under taken.

2020 – 2021.
A partnership was established with Pelgar International to supply them with a new product called Pygar Natural.
This has been launched in New Zealand and Australia.

2021-2022