increase font size
In agriculture, the emphasis for the last 150 years has been on using technology to know more about orchards, fields, and crops, which has been great, according to Watermetrics.
“We’ve uncovered inefficiencies, learned more about our land, and optimised inputs through tools like weather stations, soil moisture probes, sensors, satellites, flow meters, and more. But as often happens, yesterday’s solutions have created today’s problems.
“Technology has enabled us to deeply understand our land and crops in the modern farming landscape through numerous tools. We’ve accumulated a treasure trove of data to maximise our yields and optimise our resources.”
But, there’s a hitch – we are now navigating through a sea of data, often struggling to decipher it into actionable strategies, it says.
“Farmers in New Zealand are getting more and more data. Some of it’s expensive. Some providers are backward in sharing it.
“There are data gaps which can make a data stream unreliable. You can pay a lot for data that just doesn’t do the job accurately enough in important situations. Some data is confusing like a trigger point to irrigate and noticeably varying responses from an irrigation.
“Authorities want you to show that you are using data to manage water and nitrogen and be environmentally responsible and there can be variations around how- given the data interpretation.
“Dealing with data and transforming it into meaningful, actionable insights is actually quite difficult. Farmers are good at solving puzzles but they don’t have time to solve mysteries. Mysteries require improved analysis and interpretation of data for resolution. At the end of the day this is grasping the key indicators that affect plant health and yield. This leads to profit and we all want that.
“Historically, many agricultural companies have operated by amassing asymmetric information – having more knowledge than the next person.
www.watermetrics.co.nz
The market is in decline in the United States, Canada and Brazil. In Europe, sales are falling in Germany, France and Spain. Turkey is experiencing a sharp decline, whilst the economic strategies and policies implemented by India and China are driving purchases in both countries.
Areare Farms, a dairy operation in the Waikato region spanning multiple properties and milking 760 cows, now has Jenna and her brother Brian Rogers, the third generation of the family business, working alongside their parents Phil and Jackie.
Hamilton-based manufacturer SAM Machinery and Hawke’s Bay’s Tabula have joined forces to offer customers more ways to connect its spreaders with the technology they already use in the cab.
Installing two GEA DairyRobots R9500s marks a major step in the Coubrough family’s journey towards a more automated, future-ready farming operation.
Claas built its first variable chamber round baler - the Variant 100 - in 1996, so 2026 marks 30 years and the fifth generation of the Variant name, recently complemented by the new Cerex Series introduced in 2025.
Three men have been sentenced in District Courts after Ministry for Primary Industries prosecutions over animal welfare, food safety and cattle tracing offences.
Fonterra’s 2026 financial year was a year of delivery, with record volumes of milk collected, processed and shipped by the co-op.
OPINION: The Government's decision to reinstate agriculture and horticultural science as a standalone subject from Year 11 is the right one.
Dairy farmers, still holding onto their Fonterra shares despite switching milk supply elsewhere or exiting the industry, now face a stricter share sell-down requirement.
Hamilton-based agritech company Aimer Farming has completed a $3 million capital raise to support its next stage of growth, including a beef farming product due to launch in 2027.
When dairy manager Miriam Lauridsen learned the farm, she was joining held weekly health and safety meetings, she initially thought that was “a bit over the top”. Experiencing that culture changed her mind.
OPINION: It seems Canterbury processor Synlait is still in the doldrums.
OPINION: Get offside with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters at your own peril.
