There is no dispute that the recent wave of new farming regulations and compliance requirements is overwhelming for New Zealand farmers. These new requirements have been coming hard and fast over the past 18 months, amongst the challenges of farming during a pandemic, M. Bovis, and the recent impacts on global markets due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. To date, the New Zealand Government and Industry Stakeholders have been focused on trying to ascertain what farmers need to measure to meet our compliance and overseas market needs. How they capture the ever-increasing data requirements from within the farm gate is a gaping hole that is yet to be addressed.
Many farmers are drawn to the industry because they thrive being in the outdoors rather than in an office juggling paperwork. Combined with an average age of Sheep & Beef farmers in their 50s, most New Zealand farmers have not grown up with technology. Throw in other factors such as mobile coverage and rural broadband challenges this means that many New Zealand farmers have been slow to utilise technology on farms to capture and manage data in response to compliance.
The Agri-Tech Solution
Cloud Farmer Director, Gretchen King, is only too aware of the issues facing New Zealand red meat farmers. “We understand what it feels like because we’re going through it on our own farm as well. With mounting costs, growing amounts of paperwork, and a labour force that’s MIA, many farmers are telling us that it’s beginning to feel like it’s all getting too much”.
“That’s why we decided to trial alternative pricing options for our app, to test if significantly reducing the establishment fee by up to 70% would entice some of those more reluctant farmers to start using technology on farm to capture their farm records. Everyone else is putting their prices up – what if we significantly reduce ours?”
About Cloud Farmer
Cloud Farmer launched in 2013. It’s a record-keeping software program with a companion app that has been designed by farmers, for farmers. It allows the user to capture the information they need to meet their on-farm compliance needs, calculate their Green House Gas number, and provide transparency and proof of what is happening behind the farm gate. The system allows users to customise it to the unique needs of their farming business; offline accessibility; the ability to add multiple users; and a simple interface that makes it easy for everyone in the business to input and access data.
By making it easy to capture information in real-time, Cloud Farmer enables farmers to ditch the notebook and centralise all the important information for the farm. That reduces the time spent finding facts and figures for things like reporting and compliance processes and puts the focus back on spending time on the land.
Prices slashed from 16th May
From 16 May 2022 Cloud Farmer is giving the first 100 customers a choice between two discounted prices that reduce the establishment fee by either 40% or 70%, allowing customers to spread the cost in adjusted monthly payments. Customers can cancel at any time – although Gretchen doesn’t expect them to.
“This pricing will give farmers control of how much it costs to access technology. We know it’s going to benefit their farm, and with the simplicity of the system, even the most reluctant farmer will be able to log their operational information digitally in real-time. We need to focus on how we can help and encourage the uptake of technology to increase efficiencies on-farm and provide the proof to meet our compliance requirements.”