In 2002, the Ovita consortium was formed with the intention of increasing New Zealand sheep growers' productivity and profitability. Ovita is a partnership between Beef + Lamb New Zealand, AgResearch and government, who together fund research into sheep genomics. Technology developed by Ovita is a result of New Zealand farmer investment in Beef and Lamb New Zealand and Ovita. Ovita develops sheep genetic selection tools to enable farmers to make choices that will best meet the demands required of them - be they geographical, environmental or market driven.