The Precision Agriculture Association (PA) of New Zealand has held its first annual meeting, setting a goal to connect more farmers, researchers and advisers to precision agriculture practices through a single organisation, chairman Peter Barrowclough said.
The association hoped commercial companies, regional councils and students would also become part of the fold.
“What’s ‘prec ag’ really about? It’s about getting the balance right between production and the environment, understanding and managing variability in primary production systems and helping primary producers make more money,” Barrowclough told the founding members at the Canterbury A&P Show.
Barrowclough, who is chief executive of Lincoln Agritech, said the association owed its existence to a massive amount of work by volunteers and sponsors.
It had been a long journey to get to this point, not helped by the Canterbury earthquakes, which had disrupted marketing.
However, the instigators felt they were on to something when 100 people turned up to the first two promotional events.
“It’s about getting the balance right between production and the environment, understanding and managing variability in primary production systems and helping primary producers make more money.”
Peter Barrowclough
Precision Agriculture Association of NZ
Earlier this year the Fertiliser and Research conference at Massey included precision agriculture on its agenda, as did the South Island Dairy event.
Around that time PA supporters Craige and Roz Mackenzie hosted a workshop and demonstration day at their farm at Methven.
The subscription-funded group has a website and will host the Asian Conference on Precision Agriculture in 2017.
The association said it was interested in a land-management concept based on observation and response to variability in land and primary production systems.
It relies on new technology like electronic identification, GPS, information technology, geospatial and bio-response tools to enable farmers to act on the variability measured.
The association’s committee comprises Barrowclough and Craige Mackenzie, Professor Ian Yule (Massey University), Jim Grennell (Canterbury Development Corporation), Jane Adams, Harman Adams, Dan Bloomer (Landwise), Andrew West (Westfarms), Roger Williams (Foundation for Arable Research), and Brendan O’Connell (Tru-Test).
