Friday, March 29, 2024

Turning data into on-farm results

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There’s a lot to be gained for farm businesses by collecting and collating data into information that can be used to help make decisions on-farm, new FarmIQ Warren Parker says. “I think everybody sees that we need information to drive the right decisions on-farm and increasingly we need to be able to collect that data automatically and use it in an integrated way,” Parker said.
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Respected primary sector leader Warren Parker was recently appointed chair of farm management software provider FarmIQ. He spoke to Colin Williscroft about some of the challenges facing the growing digitalisation of farming in New Zealand, as well as some of the benefits.

There's a lot to be gained for farm businesses by collecting and collating data into information that can be used to help make decisions on-farm, new FarmIQ Warren Parker says.

“I think everybody sees that we need information to drive the right decisions on-farm and increasingly we need to be able to collect that data automatically and use it in an integrated way,” Parker said.

“The proposition behind FarmIQ is that if we can collect all the information, the data, in one place, then farmers can use it for their financial management, their pasture management, their land management (decisions) and in terms of their compliance.”

Parker says the idea of having one source and multiple uses of data has always appealed to him.

He says during his career, which has involved modelling and using tools to help farmers make better decisions, he has learned that data by itself is not particularly useful, but data that’s transformed into knowledge that helps farmers make the right choices is, more often than not, very valuable.

When it comes to data ownership, he says FarmIQ is clear that data is owned by individual farmers “but data held to yourself is not especially useful”.

“Your own data is more powerful when it combines with others,” he said.

What’s important are the guidelines and principles governing the use of it.

“You think about Xero for example, it collects information from all the people who use a Xero accounting system, to provide a whole lot of insights collectively that the individual business would not be able to gather in their own right,” he said.

“The question is ownership in a way that will enable farmers to maximise their data so they get more value if it’s used to collaborate with others, as long as everyone respects the protocols involved.

“Data is more valuable when it’s transformed into information that helps farmers make decisions. Too many people are stuck on data rather than the value that can be created from it.”

He says it’s important to avoid having multiple systems, where data is held at different points.

“Interoperability enables you to share information. Think of your accounting system; you connect to the bank and the bank feeds your expenditure into your accounting system and you just code it,” he said.

“That’s made it more efficient, you don’t have to re-enter information.”

But he says for interoperability to work in agriculture there needs to be standards where the same information applies across the board – for farmers, for banks, for Inland Revenue, for rural retail companies.

One of the challenges Parker says needs to be met is how to collect data from different points – including accounting systems, meat-kill sheets and dairy companies – and then draw that into one platform, rather than farmers having to continuously re-enter that information, so data can be shared seamlessly but retaining respect to ownership.

He gives the example of banks, where people might have a Visa or Mastercard. Individual banks still offer services tailored to their customers but the cards run off the same backbone platform.

Through digitalisation, he says agriculture is moving in the same direction.

“But (the question is,) how do we use the data efficiently, collate it, sort it into useful information and then apply it?” he asked.

Parker brings a wealth of experience to his new role.

He says being raised on a farm provides him with an understanding of farming that he retains today.

“I was milking cows and rearing calves at a young age. Those sorts of things helped shape my ability to empathise and connect with farmers and the reality of what needs to be done on the ground,” he said.

After getting an ag science degree at Massey and then focusing on-farm management, he later completed a PhD in animal science and went on to head the university’s agricultural and horticultural systems management department.

He then had a 20-year career as a senior executive in Crown Research Institutes, initially as general manager, then chief operating officer at AgResearch, before becoming chief executive at Landcare Research Manaaki Whenua, then moving on to be CEO at Sion.

After finishing his CRI career in 2017, he moved into professional directorships.

At present, those include Bay of Plenty Regional Council investment fund manager Quayside Holdings, along with board positions on Farmlands and Pāmu, which he has chaired since 2019.

He also chairs the forestry ministerial advisory group, which provides advice directly to the Minister of Forestry.

Parker sees an exciting future for FarmIQ.

“We can get really efficient in collecting, applying and using data in our farming businesses,” he said.

“The key point for me is how do we make it easy for farmers to collect and collate their information?

“If you can read the information directly off your scales, out of your milk vat, or from your breeding company, that’s going to help a lot.”

He re-emphasises the benefits that will come from farmers only having to enter information once and it being shared across their business.

“Your Nait system, for example, that’s the same information that you’re going to need for calculating your greenhouse gas inventory, because you’ve got your stock numbers, stock sales, on and off the farm for grazing. Those are the same numbers that plug into calculating your greenhouse gas footprint,” he said.

“There’s a lot of synergies if we design (the system) properly.”

He acknowledges software uptake in NZ agriculture has never achieved scale or critical mass, which needs to be addressed.

“It’s not a very big market size, so we can’t have too many of these (platforms) to create financially viable solutions, but they need to be designed in a way that creates value for landowners,” he said.

“It needs to be cost efficient.

“And we need to make sure we’re creating maximum value for farmers from their data.”

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