Halter goes global, but NZ farmers remain core to innovation
Virtual fencing company Halter is going global but for founder Craig Piggott, New Zealand farmers will always remain their main partners.
A new task management system allows farmers and agricultural contractors to keep track of job and time records with an app, helping reduce mistakes and saving time.
FarmBackup’s app, called Task, allows users to ditch the paper job sheets they use to keep track of daily tasks and times worked.
The digital platform collects and collates data to provide the information needed for correct invoicing, machine analysis and calculation of salary. It integrates with the most commonly used accounting systems, says FarmBackup’s co-founder Anders Knudsen.
“As an administrator, you get a better overview of submitted job sheets and tasks planned for the future, instead of a pile of job sheets to look through and transfer.”
The system handles all registered work and payroll digitally, taking advantage of the already high digitalisation in farming and contracting, where everybody uses a smartphone and keeps it close to their side during the working day.
FarmBackup in 2018 launched a digital marketplace for agricultural services, making it more transparent who was offering combine harvesting, cultivating, drilling, etc. Many contractors and farmers across New Zealand have joined the marketplace, so the arrival of the Task app is sure to be of interest.
Development of the Task app saw the developers team up with a group of farmers and contractors who delivered valuable feedback during developing and testing.
FarmBackup will continue to develop the app to suit its users in the best ways possible and has already engaged with the first contractors in NZ.
Metallica's charitable foundation, All Within My Hands (AWMH), teamed up with Meet the Need this week for a food packing event held at the New Zealand Food Network warehouse in Auckland.
After two years, Alliance Group has returned to profit.
According to Zespri's November forecast for the 2025/26 season, returns are likely to be up for all fruit groups compared to the last forecast in August.
Next month, wool training will reach one of New Zealand's most remote communities, the Chatham Islands - bringing hands-on skills and industry connection to locals eager to step into the wool harvesting sector.
Farmers' health and wellbeing will take centre stage with a new hub at the 2026 East Coast Farming Expo.
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