Technology – there are those who
embrace it with open arms, and then there are those who don’t… but love it or
hate it, there are some very good pieces of technology that could be extremely
useful for farmers wanting help with environmental compliance, or even just
some advice and support. And, with the
increased need to be accountable and “doing things right”, these are some of
the technology tools and resources that I have come across in my day job that I
thought were worth a mention.
Riparian Planner
This is an online tool developed
by DairyNZ. It is a step by step process
to design, budget and prioritise water management on farm. It is extremely user friendly, and a good starting
point if you are considering riparian planting on your farm. This is a useful tool for all types of
farms. The web page address is as
follows:
https://riparian-planner.dairynz.co.nz/plans
Check-It Bucket Test app
This is available for both Apple
and Android devices via the App Store or Google Play Store. The app walks you through an annual
performance assessment of your irrigation system, provides the results
instantly to your device and e-mails a final report to you. This is a great way to check whether your
irrigation system is performing as you expect.
Is water being applied evenly?
Are you putting on what your control box says you are putting on? You do need to own a few buckets to carry out
the test, but the insight into your irrigation systems performance is well
worth the trip to town to invest in the buckets. Some irrigation schemes do have buckets that
you can borrow for this purpose, so ask around too.
Soil Moisture Monitoring
Soil moisture monitoring
equipment is by no means new technology, but the amount of it now on the market
has increased substantially and understanding what is the right tool for you
can be difficult to work out. You must choose the right equipment for your
soil, land use activities and irrigation system type, and then locate, install
and calibrate (if necessary) it correctly. Accessing, managing and
understanding the data is also important. If soil moisture monitoring is to be
successful, each of these aspects has to be carefully worked through. Irrigation New Zealand has developed a
resource book for this very topic and it can be found here:
Online GIS systems
For those of us here in
Canterbury, Canterbury Maps is an amazing resource. Not only can you create farm maps, but it can
be used to search for information about any property, consent information, bore
information, and any other relevant information that you may need such as
nutrient allocation zones, the location of wetlands or Runanga sensitive
areas. This can be found here:
Other councils do have online GIS
systems, but none are quite to the level of Canterbury Maps. But check out what your local council does
have. Understanding what is of interest
and/or significance on and around your farm is key these days.
FDE Calculator app
Dairy NZ has developed an app to
allow you to work out how to manage your Farm Dairy Effluent (FDE). You can easily calculate nutrient loadings
and application rates, therefore enabling application of effluent with greater
precision. It can be used for diluted
dairy effluent as well as for slurry tankers and muck spreaders. This is also available for both Apple and
Android devices via the App Store or Google Play Store.
I hope you find this information
useful, and please let me know of any others that you think might be worth
checking out.
