Swede mistake: 'Complete and utter systems review' promised

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PGG Wrightson Seeds has promised a ''complete and utter systems review'' after Southland and Otago farmers learned this week they had grown a discontinued variety of herbicide-tolerant swedes - despite ordering a new variety from the company.

On Wednesday, the company told 556 farmers across New Zealand who purchased a new seed variety, Hawkestone yellow-fleshed Cleancrop swede, that a different line of white-fleshed swede, HT-S57, had been distributed by mistake.

And speaking to the Otago Daily Times PGG Wrightson Seeds general manager New Zealand David Green said he could not rule out the mistake - caused by human error - would not happen again.

''There's no doubt that we will be undertaking a complete and utter systems review of our internal processes here,'' he said. ''I could never give you a 100 per cent guarantee. But what I can assure you is that every possible opportunity will be taken to make this process as rigorous as it can possibly be.''

Later this year, he said, it was likely ''some of our people that are experienced in this area'' would work with farmers who might need to reprioritise feed for different stock types and make sure ''key parameters'' as to how the crop was fed were met.

In 2014, the herbicide tolerant HT-S57 variety was linked to health issues and the deaths of hundreds of dairy cows in the South.