Get to know Jo Williams: Advancing Australian lucerne

Jo Williams leads AlfaGen Seeds’ lucerne breeding program, bringing together on-farm experience and global breeding expertise. After 5 years with SARDI on the Eyre Peninsula running NVT trials, Jo returned to her family farm in Field, South Australia, and began working with AlfaGen Seeds in lucerne research and development. 

Through AlfaGen’s lucerne breeding program, Jo helps develop high-quality lucerne varieties designed to deliver strong yield potential, persistence and performance for Australian farmers.

Lucerne isn’t just Jo’s job, it’s central to her own farming system. Her family runs a 5,000 head Merino breeding operation that relies heavily on lucerne pastures, alongside up to 300ha of dryland lucerne seed each season.

That firsthand experience means Jo understands the pressures growers face, from persistence and grazing tolerance to yield and reliability.

Our global breeding approach combines global genetics, local expertise and genuine industry collaboration to develop elite varieties that deliver both exceptional forage quality and high forage yields. 

Alfagen’s lucerne breeding program involves selecting and crossing superior plants to improve the traits that matter on farm, including:

• Salt tolerance for challenging soils
• Low lignin content for improved digestibility
• High forage and forage yield for profitability
• Varieties suited for all dormancy ratings and end-use systems, from grazing to cut-and-carry
• Pest and disease resistance

Running breeding programs across both hemispheres allows faster evaluation and selection from a global portfolio of germplasm, shortening the long path from early screening to commercial varieties. 

Jo explains the benefit simply:

In practical terms, this means breeding starts with plant selections from major lucerne-growing regions around the world. These are crossed, screened and tested for traits like dormancy, yield, salt tolerance and pest and disease resistance. Only the strongest lines progress to seed build-up and eventual commercial release, a process that can take up to seven years.

New varieties from AlfaGen’s global program will soon be available to Aussie growers. We have elite new lucerne varieties coming across all dormancy categories, for a wide range of regions and end-use systems.

For Jo, the real reward is seeing the lucerne she’s developed performing in paddocks and supporting farm profitability. It’s that connection between breeding, farming and real-world outcomes that continues to drive her work at AlfaGen Seeds.

AlfaGen lucerne is backed by a global breeding program focused on persistence, forage quality and performance under real grazing pressure. Our varieties are developed and selected across multiple environments to ensure they perform where it counts, in paddocks, not just plots.

→ Explore our global lucerne breeding program

Every farm has different needs, so we’ve developed a range of lucerne varieties to match. Check out our lucerne range to find the variety that fits your system, rainfall and production system.

→ Explore AlfaGen lucerne