Does new tech really deliver?
OPINION: New technologies can promise the world but how do we know if they are delivering?
Precision Agriculture holds tools to help farmers face regulatory and economic pressures including the current payout, claims chairman Craige Mackenzie, a partner in Three Springs Dairy, Methven, milking 1150 cows, beside his 200ha arable cropping farm.
“It is very hard to be green when you are in the red,” MacKenzie concedes. “So if farmers are not profitable they will not invest in technology so we are trying to help put information in front of people… to offer a profitable solution for them.
“We know from our own farming businesses that we have been saving 30-40% on our fertiliser and 30% on our water. So if you can save money without impacting on production and be more site specific about application, it has to be good for your bottom line.”
Three Government ministers have recently visited to understand what is happening in precision agriculture and they see the benefits, environmentally and in respect of their mandate for NZ to double agricultural production by 2025.
Mackenzie believes the Government should back more studies into how some international techniques may suit the NZ environment. Some work is being done through Massey, MBIE, PGP and the Sustainable Farming Fund. “But there’s no point having research sitting on the shelf; we haven’t done a good job in communicating how it is best suited to the farming community.”
Mackenzie says he recently talked to a new group called the Strategic Primary Partnership, with representatives from MBIE, MPI, SFF and PGP, which is looking at tech tranfers and the tendency for organisations to work in ‘silos’. “But you can’t just throw money at it. You’ve got to have a plan. There is reasonable funding available but the key thing is to put it in the right place.”
Precision agriculture is taking root in various countries and situations. “We have to see which ones fit in New Zealand… in broadacre, i.e. more intensive agriculture. We fit well in this space because we have high production in New Zealand… so we can produce a lot in a small area with a lot of high inputs. So you are probably over-applying in some areas and in other areas maybe you can ramp it up.”
Mackenzie attended a conference in Sacramento in July to speak on variable rate irrigation in which New Zealand is a leader. The ‘number 8 wire’ mentality is useful.
“We can adapt some of the best technology in the world and develop our own and turn it into something useful. That is the challenge and it will come from a combination of practical leading farmers, good open-minded scientists that work in CRIs and other groups prepared to work alongside and listen to some of the leading farmers.
“Sometimes the best farmers have the most innovative ideas. We need the scientists to… prove it is robust and sustainable. So we need everybody.”
Precision agriculture is about the right product, placed in the right place, at the right time, in the right manner and in the right amount, he says. “We talk about the five ‘r’s. People will say they do that on a paddock basis and they probably do, [but] they don’t do it on a spatial basis. Not until you understand your spatial variability do you get your head in the game. It’s not difficult to step to the next level and start to spatially apply products.”
To help with tech transfer Precision Agriculture plans events to raise its profile, further case studies on the website and support others in their conferences through presentations such as the Spacially Enabled Livestock Management Symposium held in Hamilton last week.
“We want to work with DairyNZ, Fonterra, FAR and Beef + Lamb NZ and a range of organisations to support them.”
