To date New Zealand farmers do not realize how involved they are in Precision Agriculture (PA). As arable farmers we know how many kilograms of nitrogen (N) it takes to grow a tonne of wheat, how many kilograms of seed we can produce for every millimetre of water that is applied (through irrigation and/or rainfall) and yet we don’t believe we are involved in PA. As dairy farmers we are matching feed requirements to the specific production level of individual cows. We are using effluent as a nutrient source with zonal management put around this and yet we still do not speak of being involved in PA.

Precision Agriculture in New Zealand is at a very exciting stage. Farmers are beginning to use technologies such as GreenSeeker™, Crop Circle™, EM and EC mapping along with yield maps to create management zones. We also use Decision Support Systems such as The Wheat Calculator as we seek ways to maximize production and reduce inputs, while ensuring that we have limited environmental impact.