Computer says no as farm software company revamps

The revamp will also see chief executive Will Noble leave the company in August.

Owned by Pamu, Silver Fern Farms, Farmlands Co-operative, MSD, Vet-Ent and AgResearch, FarmIQ is map-based farm management software used by over 3,500 farms.

Noble says that while the company has achieved subscriber growth, it has been slower than anticipated. He puts this down to farmer sentiment.

"Farmers have had a terrifically difficult 12-18 months and in times of uncertainty many delay purchasing decisions," he told Rural News.

Prior to the decision to reorganise FarmIQ employed 69 people.

"Through a combination of disestablishments and not filling positions that were, or beame, vacant the headcount has reduced by about 25%," explains Noble.

He says a price review isn't on the cards.

"However, our product and marketing team is reviewing the structure of our packs with a view to encourage increased subscription uptake," he says.

At the same time, major shareholder Pamu has agreed to provide support in ancillary areas such as corporate services, human resources, and finance.

The state farmer's newly appointed chief technology & digital officer, Tammy Lemire is joining the FarmIQ board.

Noble will be replaced by chief operating officer, Gavin McEwen, who assumed the role of executive general manager leading the business under the new model and reporting to the board.

Noble says FarmIQ plays a critical role in many farming businesses.

"Over the past three years, we've implemented a tremendous amount of change to modernise the ten-year-old FarmIQ infrastructure.

"In addition, we've released our new field app built on entirely new technology with enhanced online and offline functionality and acquired farm modelling programme Farmax in a partnership with AgResearch."

Noble adds that during the same period, the FarmIQ team has built modern API infrastructure powering integrations with companies such as NZ Merino, ANZCO, TracMap, OSPRI/NAIT.

He points out that like other agri-supply businesses, FarmIQ has faced revenue headwinds for more than a year.

As a result, they are joining several other firms in their industry currently reducing staff numbers as farmers close their wallets to cope with massive regulatory change, uncertainty, increased input costs, geopolitical uncertainty, volatile farm gate prices, and repeat extreme weather events.