Reduced costs through the more efficient targeting of inputs and increasing crop yields are making precision agriculture technology an excellent investment for arable farming businesses.

Precision agriculture, when applied to arable crops, will enable you to target your inputs precisely at a spatial level for the crops that are being grown while reducing your environmental impact and increasing your overall profitability. 

Precision agriculture reaffirms the social license to operate- enabling more responsible inputs into our food production systems:

• Precision agriculture methods utilise on average 30-40% less water and 15-20% conservatively less fertiliser impacting on your bottom line.
• With Precision agriculture methods applied you will see an ROI in your Farm of 100% within 3-4 years
  

See a demonstration in Canterbury

In order to demonstrate new technologies that are contributors to precision agriculture, the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) is hosting an MBIE and IoT Alliance collaborative pilot that will see sensors deployed on the FAR Kowhai Farm in Canterbury. 

The pilot is being run to showcase the technology needed for precision agriculture methods and techniques in a hands-on pilot demonstration that will be evaluated by FAR. 

This evaluation aspect from a trusted and impartial industry body is what differentiates this pilot from all other vendor specific pilots currently underway. 
                                                                                                              Sandra Laws - Arable Tech Advisor, MBIE

If you have any questions about precision agriculture technology or the upcoming pilot in Canterbury, please contact:

Sandra Laws
Arable Tech Advisor, MBIE
sandra.laws@mbie.govt.nz
021 807 888

Want to know more?

To find out more about the benefits of using digital technology on your farm connect with us by:

• Subscribing to our monthly newsletter here
• Joining our Facebook community here
• Following us on Twitter here
• Subscribing to our YouTube channel here
  
• Read related articles here.

Want to talk to an expert near you?

• Find a precision agriculture expert in your region here.

Watch a video case study (example)

You'll find a video case study at the bottom of this article showing you the impact of precision agriculture on the North Canterbury farm of Sara and Miles Barham. 

Digital action planning tool for arable farmers

This free online tool is written in plain English and will only take 10minutes to complete. It'll give you a prioritised digital action plan customised for your farm. Your action plan will also link you with useful resources and videos and help you monitor your progress on implementing your actions over time. Start your plan now - here. 

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