Ballance Launches AI Assistant for Fertiliser Ordering
A new digital assistant is now helping Ballance Agri-Nutrients farmers speed up nutrient information and ordering.
The Jacson Cube, a portable all-in-one boot cleaning and disinfecting system that folds to go into a ute or car boot, alows rural professionals to arrive and depart farms without raising disease risk levels.
Jacson3 business partners Rusty Knutson and Jacqui Humm have spent two years developing the idea after Knutson – whose work was collecting calves for export – saw many farmers struggling to prevent rotavirus and cryptosporidium spreading between mobs of animals.
Cleaning and disinfecting boots on and off farms was hard to do thoroughly with only a bucket, brush and spray bottle combo. Hence the Jacson Cube for any kind of footwear cleaning and disinfecting.
The polypropylene Cube has three main components: body, lid and car-boot tray/footbath, which weighs 10kg empty and 15kg filled with water or disinfectant.
It has a rotating brush mounted on an aluminium spindle, in turn attached to a rhino-plastic grating designed to keep debris and contaminants away from the boot. A hand-brush can be used to shift stubborn debris while using the integrated handle in the lid for support.
The unit’s spray applicator draws disinfectant from a 3L reservoir and has a spray tip with enough pressure to shift debris.
It takes about one minute to set up and a couple more to pack away.
A ball-valve trap controls liquid flow and the body of the unit has storage for disinfectant, gloves, wipes and hand sanitiser.
For set-up the unit is connected by a 13-15mm hose-tail which directs liquid up to the brush assembly where it cascades over and under the footwear, with the motion causing the brush to rotate.
A tray is provided for holding the unit in a car boot; this can double as a footbath if used with an optional integral disinfectant mat.
The Cube can operate without a water source by using the integral reservoir. Price $549 + gst.
A Palmerston North shearer has been sentenced to six months' community detention and 12 months' supervision after being found to have physically abused three lambs while shearing them.
Power Farming has launched a joint venture in Southland.
Food rescue charity Meet the Need has released its 2025/26 Impact Report, revealing a record year of growth alongside a stark warning: demand for food support across New Zealand is rising faster than supply can keep up.
As we move into the second half of 2026, the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) reports that Year-to-Date figures ending June 30 saw new tractor deliveries hitting 1,386 units or 10.7% ahead of the same period in 2025.
The avocado sector is entering the new season with a larger crop and positive market opportunities.
New Zealand growers have always adapted to changing conditions, but one challenge is steadily gaining ground across the horticulture sector: resistance.

OPINION: The same mainstream media muppets that brought you Jacindamania in 2017 have been flat out pimping for the Opportunities…
OPINION: Your old mate reckons the atrocious way farmers in the UK are treated by their lords and masters in…