But in computer innovation, farmers sometimes get left behind – more likely to be sorting stock in the yards than sorting rows in a spreadsheet.
Using computers for on-farm business decisions is crucial as we make use of data for many tasks, such as managing data from eartags and running milking machines. The challenge is to make those decisions quickly and efficiently.
Mastering a spreadsheet, sharing files via the internet or navigating a city using a smartphone may not be as technically stimulating as building a seed drill, but you need to be able to do it.
This column will give practical advice and grow a wider understanding of how technology is changing and how this could be applied on your farm.
If you are spending time entering data twice or taking information from one system to another, then there is almost always a better and faster way.
For example, Microsoft Excel should be a farmer’s best friend. It has powerful functions including conditional formatting, advanced sorting and filtering, plus timesaving lookup and reference formulas such as the ‘vlookup’ and transpose functions.
One of my favourite, but misunderstood, Excel functions is pivot tables: these allow you to quickly sort and arrange your data in any way you want. A farmer friend I showed this to promptly saw he could save 30 minutes at the end of each day.
To learn more about pivot tables, download a quick sheet here: www.rippedorange.co.nz/pivottable
Next month, we will explore the world of Cloud Computing, which has nothing to do with weather forecasting – but all to do with working together and saving time.
• David Jackson, of Canterbury, studied at Lincoln University and has had several years agribusiness experience. He now helps people make the most of technology. Ripped Orange is a technology training company.
