FarmIQ has set up a separate company, FarmIQ Systems, to sell its software system. It has a separate board and chief executive, Darryn Pegram.
He was a past veterinary and animal health executive with a decade spent in management at Pfizer Animal Health and has worked for Fonterra and the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium.
The FarmIQ PGP was scheduled to wind up next June, wrapping up seven years of funding and development that included $59 million of PGP funding and a further $65 million provided by commercial partners Silver Fern Farms, Landcorp Farming and Tru-Test.
“By spinning off into FarmIQ Systems we have a vote of confidence in FarmIQ’s ability to stand up commercially. It is an exciting opportunity and the timing is good,” Pegram said.
The move came as sales of the FarmIQ farm management software were picking up strongly. It now had 1000 farmer customers. The 1000th farmer was Peter Cullen of Matauri Bay in Northland.
“We are smack on budget right now. When it started the growth expectation was ambitious but I believe we will get there.”
Farmer uptake of the subscription service had been climbing at a rate of 5-7% a month and he expected farm subscribers at the end of this year would be double those at the end of last year and double again come the end of next year.
The company had responded to farmer feedback on subscription pricing by offering a wide range of capabilities for different rates.
“If you are a more traditional farmer just looking for something simple you can get an interactive farm map alone for about 50c a day while a larger or multi-farm owner may be paying $1000 a year for an extensive programme.”
Pegram said the time for commercialisation was right with the system well tested by trial farmers who had been on board since the start.
“A few years back people would have wondered what we were doing and in a few years’ time it would be too late.”
Users were appreciating the benefits of having all farm data capable of being sourced in one place.
“I think originally the thought was it was about animals and grass alone. The surprise has been how it can also manage staff and the environment. Both have become more critical to manage with things like health and safety regulations and farm environment plans now needed.”
An exciting aspect of the programme was its ability to make data more accessible for processors and consultants with AgFirst using it to enhance its farm environment planning while cutting down on travelling time to properties.
“It is enabling these plans to be kept as live activities capable of being updated as new information comes in and adjusted.”
