The Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC) is being held in Melbourne this year, bringing with it such names as Alan Colman, Jennifer Thomson and Robert Wall. With Australia's economy still so reliant on the land, Graeme O'Neill takes a look at what our neighbours across the pond can teach us about harnessing the power of biotechnology in agriculture.

Just over seven years ago, in August 1998, Dr David Wells of the Ruakua Research Centre in Hamilton announced the successful cloning of the last Enderby Island Cow, the last survivor of a the world's rarest cattle breed.

They seek it here, they seek it there, but it remains hidden in the genetic thickets of flowering and seed development. A place in history awaits its finder.