e-farming@fieldays - A Platform for Success
This year the premier feature at Fieldays was e-farming. This was a joint development between the NZ National Fieldays Society and the Ministry of Economic Development.
NZers have always embraced technology and the best farmers, like all people in business, apply their experience, knowledge and the latest research to deliver the best results. So e-farming seemed an obvious choice for the key theme of the largest agricultural trade show in the Southern Hemisphere - the objective being to demonstrate the huge potential e-farming has for rural productivity and efficiency.
Why e-farming?
E-farming is about promoting the use and scope of on-line technology in the primary sector. It's about adding value to the agricultural industry while increasing its competitiveness in the global marketplace. And it's about managing all this from the farm office if so desired.
The key to maximising the potential of e-farming is access to high speed broadband telecommunications in rural areas. Having information and communications technology available to all NZers is vital to NZ's economic development. Regions need infrastructure to enable them to participate in the "global economy". One of the major barriers to regional development identified by regional communities is access to broadband. The Government has recognised this and has initiated Project PROBE - providing the means for every school in NZ and its surrounding community to access broadband technologies by the end of 2004.
What is e-farming?
Most NZers are familiar with the regular uses of the Internet - email, online banking, exchanging files with accountants, dealing with government and researching farm-related information. But visitors to Fieldays were offered a glimpse of the unlimited opportunities that e-technology can bring to their businesses. From automated milking systems that require little human intervention to remote pasture rotation, the possibilities are endless. Farmers are becoming more Internet savvy than their city counterparts in Auckland or Wellington. The successful business of farming may well depend on this in the future.
Aside from the actual business of farming, e-farming also has family lifestyle implications. Access to educational services and information are important for school-age family members and at the tertiary level can make extramural study that much more attainable. Health is another area when, in a remote location, access to information and support via the Internet can be invaluable.
And of course there are the social and business networking opportunities provided by access to the Internet. People running similar businesses in rural areas throughout the country can make contact, compare notes and offer referrals. Tourism is a great example of this. Increasingly, lifestyle property owners and farmers are tapping the global power of the Internet to attract tourists to their doorstep. There is a growing traveller appetite for NZ and the Internet has become an effective, low cost way to promote NZ as a desirable destination with experiences for every budget.
An area of growing concern to rural communities is security. Farmers need to protect their assets in the same ways as other commercial operations. While security of farmland can prove expensive, remote cameras can be installed using solar-powered systems. The same method can be used for point-to-point beams. More recent developments mean that surveillance cameras can even have their own Internet address.
At Fieldays there was a dedicated area in and around the Pavilion where exhibitors showcased these and other e-services.
Contact for Enquiries
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: 0800 00 83 33
Fax: +64 4 894 0720
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