Embrace good technology

Whether it’s sharing equipment, helping with tough jobs or being part of a cooperative, rural communities are pretty well versed at relying on their communities, through thick and thin.

Oftentimes people within the community have specific equipment or skills that go deeper than the majority; sharing those skills creates a domino effect where the sum of all individual parts create the intangible effect of community. This interdependence is a hallmark of rural life, where everyone plays a crucial role in the wellbeing of the whole.

Interestingly, this model of mutual reliance has a striking parallel in the world of technology. Just as our rural communities are stronger together, so too is technology when interconnected.

New Zealand’s rural communities are renowned for their collaborative spirit. According to Statistics New Zealand, about 14% of Kiwis live in rural areas, where cooperation isn’t just beneficial it’s necessary. The obvious example of our co-ops illustrate how pooling resources leads to greater efficiency and resilience. During the 2020 lockdowns, rural communities banded together to ensure everyone had access to essential supplies, showcasing the power of unity in overcoming challenges. The same can be said of extreme weather events when properties and whole communities have been cut off and face huge clean ups.

When it comes to technology, of all shapes of sizes in the modern age, many products and services excel within their specific niches. These “inch wide, mile deep” solutions offer expert functionality in areas like data analytics, herd management, pasture management or nutrient application reporting.

However, when these technologies operate in isolation, their impact is inherently limited. A standalone weather forecasting app, for instance, provides valuable information but doesn’t offer insights into how weather patterns might affect farm yields or the supply chain unless paired with other relevant, specific data.

Increasingly these days, with the advancement and normalisation of cloud based software, these technologies are designed to be connected with others and share data, provide additional context and deliver more powerful and relevant outcomes for farmers to make decisions on. Essentially when integrated, their collective power multiplies. Take, for example, the Internet of Things (IoT) devices used in smart farming. Sensors that monitor soil moisture, weather conditions, and crop health can feed data into a central system that uses machine learning algorithms to optimise irrigation and fertilisation.

According to a report by AgResearch, such interconnected systems can increase farm productivity by up to 20%, a significant boost for New Zealand’s vital agricultural sector.

For New Zealand’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which make up 97% of all businesses according to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE), such integrated solutions can level the playing field against larger competitors.

Just as our rural communities demonstrate the strength found in unity, so does technology. Whether on the farms of rural New Zealand or the offices of cuttingedge tech companies, we are stronger together. So, when you are looking to solve problems or improve efficiency through technology on your farm, always ask yourself what else could the product add value to, where does one plus one equal three. Good technology connects our worlds in a simple way, creating a platform many inches wide and a mile deep. Don’t settle for anything less.

Chloe Walker is the chief operating officer at Precision Farming