Friday, March 29, 2024

An attention to detail

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Looking for ways to increase efficiencies and productivity, while reducing inputs? Precision agriculture could be the next step for your cropping, dairy or drystock farming business. More? Go to agrioptics.co.nz
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Family-owned precision agriculture business Agri Optics New Zealand can help you access and use the tools and technology available in this rapidly growing industry.

Craige and Roz Mackenzie and their daughter Jemma started the business four years ago. Jemma caught on to the potential of precision agriculture while studying in the United States, while Craig was inspired during his overseas travels as a Nuffield scholar.

They returned home, shared their ideas and applied what they had learnt on their own Methven, Mid Canterbury farm.

“We thought there might be a fit for a company that helps people do this in NZ,” Jemma said.

Put simply, precision agriculture is taking what farmers are already doing and finding ways to do it smarter, with a more targeted approach to areas such as irrigation, fertiliser, and chemical application.

Jemma said soil mapping tools were in high demand at the moment, particularly for irrigation plans and designs.

Many farmers were finding value in grid soil sampling, an intensive sampling method to identify nutrient variability across a paddock or block of land.

This information was used to apply fertiliser to areas where it was most required, saving money by avoiding fertiliser use where it was not needed or where the least benefits would be gained.

Smart-N fertiliser application technology is being developed by Agri Optics, using sensors with the ability to identify urine patches on grazed pasture and, through the use of liquid fertiliser, to avoid applying any further nutrient to the patch. The system is also capable of delivering a nitrification inhibitor to those identified patches.

Historically, there had been a reluctance to use technology involved in precision agriculture. That was changing and the tools and technology are becoming simpler and user friendly, Jemma said.

The market was growing steadily and the Mackenzie family recently opened Agri Optics North, near Palmerston North, to service North Island farmers.

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