Is augmented reality the future of farming?
Imagine a farmer being able to tell a paddock’s pasture cover and dry matter content just by looking at it, or accessing information about a cow’s body condition score in the same way.
'If she ain't broke, don't fix it' holds true in many instances. But sometimes things can creep up from behind and bite you, particularly when it comes to technology.
It can take a lost client, a major change in the industry or a downturn in circumstances for us to look around at what others may be doing differently and, though it may hurt to say it, they may be doing better.
Some farmers have found the saying 'you've got to spend some to gain some' to be true – especially when it comes to the internet.
The internet can give you access to global markets and keep you up with the play on rural developments locally and around the world. And there are many apps and programmes you can use onfarm to enhance soil composition, get more and better milk from your herd, monitor yield, livestream conferences, etc.
Rezare Systems analyst Graeme Ogle reported recently that soon farmers will be able to house all farm data in one place via cloud computing.
"Fast broadband removes many of the constraints developers have traditionally contended with. It enables a design solution that is available anywhere, anytime," he explained.
"A farmer could come in at night and see the fertiliser already recorded on his farm map because the spreader has loaded the GPS co-ordinates. He could then view his nutrient budget and order the spring fertiliser. He could view his feed wedge which had uploaded his pasture cover measurements and nitrogen applications. It would have the latest pasture growth prediction and he could consider purchasing supplementary feed or nitrogen. This would simply require clicking through to the online store.
"At the moment, farmers need to spend an enormous amount of time updating the software, getting all the parameters right, getting information from onfarm devices and off-farm data sources before they can even look at the kind of scenarios the software is designed to take them through."
So, if you're in an internet blind spot, and it's not looking like the Government's Rural Broadband Initiative is going to help you out any time soon, there are other options. The Government hopes 86% of rural households and business will have access to high-speed internet by the time the new cell towers and the extended fibre network are rolled out. That's a huge improvement, but it does leave 14% of the countryside out in the cold.
Satellite technology reaches every part of New Zealand. You'll wait no longer than 15 working days for installation and independent testing shows it consistently outperforms rural ADSL during peak time and off peak.
Wireless Nation operates New Zealand's satellite broadband for rural regions. Using the Optus satellite network which provides speeds that enable live streaming, the connection is robust and can host a number of digital users simultaneously.
Technology is one of those things where 'you don't know what you don't know'. There are many initiatives around now that could save you time and a lot of money. So it can pay to keep nimble, and spend some time looking at what the right solution is for your situation.
• Penny Hartill is a communications advisor to Wireless Nation
