HORSHAM will be home to a multi-million-dollar national grains collection centre next year.
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The Australian Grains Genebank - to be built at the Horsham Department of Primary Industries site - will house seed samples from Australia and around the world.
The State Government, through the DPI, will invest up to $2.85 million to build glasshouses and other facilities and the Grains Research and Development Corporation will match the funding.
The collection will bring together grain legume, oil seed and tropical and temperate climate cereal collections from other centres across the country.
The centre is due for completion within 12 months.
GRDC chairman Keith Perrett said it was imperative Australia's genetic resources were maintained.
"This is huge for the grains industry, to get all genetic resources in the same place," he said.
"This funding allows us to create a world-class facility that will maintain, protect and conserve our resources for a long time.
"The bank will bring together five collections from around Australia which will make it much more efficient for us to manage those genetic resources."
Mr Perrett said the bank would initially house about 180,000 samples, with more continually being deposited from around Australia and overseas.
He said the decision to build the centre in Horsham stemmed from the fact it was a key site for genetic collections.
DPI's Grains Innovation Park already houses the Australian Temperate Field Crops Collection.
Victorian Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh said the agreement between the government and GRDC was many years in the making.
"After a lot of work by a lot of people we have got all the states working together," he said.
"The funding is initially for five years with the option to extend. In the world of research that is a very long-term commitment.
"I commend all of those people over the past 20 years who have worked towards what we have announced."
Mr Walsh said the collection would mean plant breeders could access the genetic material and associated international knowledge necessary to produce superior varieties for growers.
DPI Horsham's molecular plant breeding research leader Michael Materne said the centre was a key thing not only for Horsham but for the scientific community and farmers nationally.
"The commitment from the State Government and GRDC is fantastic. In the past there has been less working together and more short term projects and uncertainty," he said.
"This makes things a lot more secure."
Dr Materne said the two state-of-the-art glasshouses would be finished by the end of the year.
The bank will operate as part of a global system of banks, which support Australia's obligations as a signatory to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
