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.
The first phase of the government's rural broadband initiative (RBI) is now complete.
This is great news to 300,000 households and businesses that now have access to faster, more reliable broadband. But, are you – the chosen ones – making the most of this new-found internet freedom?
If you're in range of one of the RBI project's new cell towers you can experience consistently fast broadband speeds. In the bad old days (i.e. before June this year) communities in these areas had speeds of only 1-5Mbps.
In real terms, this means you can now simultaneously connect a number of devices to the internet easily; and you can live stream movies and reliably use live-time apps for your milking or dry stock business.
Peak time internet use has always affected speeds in rural, and urban, New Zealand. We are assured that broadband speeds will now remain more consistent when lots of people are streaming online video, downloading their messages and reading the news.
It's easy to find out if you can connect to one of the 490 newly installed or upgraded towers by going to https://wirelessnation.co.nz/rural/products/rbi-broadband-coverage. The map on the site shows exactly what you'll be able to get access to – 3G, 4G or No Aerial (Wireless Nation's self-install option).
Wireless Nation can also give you some idea how far you are away from your nearest cell tower, which will affect your maximum download and uploading speeds.
At the start of the build, nationwide mobile coverage of NZ's land mass was at 38%. With the rollout of RBI, mobile coverage is now about 50% of the country's mass.
Mobile data usage in rural NZ is soaring; growth on just one network rose 270% between 2013 and 2015. At the same time there was a 106% increase in the number of rural connected devices. This is a result of customers' access to more reliable connectivity.
Once you and your family go online more often your usage may outgrow your current ISP data plan. But by paying a little more each month you can get a whole lot more data allowance.
Wireless Nation now has the best value RBI plan on the market, offering 80GB of data plus 50GB off-peak and a home phone line (includes free local and national calls) for $99.99 per month. You can usually self-install to connect and because the wireless signal is received straight from the modem, there's no need for an antenna on your roof.
Analysis by Dunedin-based Techion New Zealand shows the cost of undetected drench resistance in sheep has exploded to an estimated $98 million a year.
Shipping disruption caused by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea has so far not impacted fertiliser prices or supply on farm.
The opportunity to spend more time on farm while providing a dedicated service for shareholders attracted new environmental manager Ben Howden to work for Waimakariri Irrigation Limited (WIL).
Federated Farmers claims that the Otago Regional Council is charging ahead unnecessarily with piling more regulation on rural communities.
Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.
OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.