Bauer confirmed as speaker

BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander during the National Horticultural Field Day at the Hawke's Bay Showgrounds last year. He returns again for the field day's BNZ Seminar Series on July 8.

The National Horticultural Field Day in Hastings next month has confirmed an international speaker for its BNZ Seminar Series.

He is Mike Bauer, head of marketing and business development at California-based Ranch Systems, producing a wireless, cloud-based monitoring and reporting system for growers.

Organisers say Mr Bauer will be a great addition to a strong BNZ Seminar Series line up, which includes BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander and Professor Hamish Gow, from Massey University.

The BNZ Seminar Series is a feature of the July 8 Field Day at Hawke's Bay Showgrounds, marking the 10th event since it was originally staged as the Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers Association's ICE Expo in 2007.

Mr Bauer's technology background, working for many years in the fabled Silicon Valley of California, is perhaps not the most traditional path into horticulture, but this knowledge of cutting edge technology and IT has enabled him to solve diverse farming problems across a wide range of crops and across the world with Ranch Systems.

He will use his presentation to showcase the benefits of Ranch Systems' products, such as increase in yield, lowering of operational costs, improvement of crop quality and conservation of water through use of the monitoring software.

The BNZ Seminar Series will start with a breakfast event and keynote address from Professor Gow, Massey's director of Business Innovation and Strategy.

He was founder of the Food Safety Knowledge Network and is currently leading a facilitation team assisting the World Bank to establish an open source Global Food Safety Partnership.

Tony Alexander returns to the Field Day, having been on the speaking list last year, and will share his wealth of knowledge, while another feature of the day will be the Hawke's Bay Regional Council updating their TANK project, which reviews the way land and water resources are managed in the Greater Heretaunga and Ahuriri area.

The area, with 85 per cent of Hawke's Bay's population, encompasses the Tutaekuri, Ahuriri, Ngaruroro and Karamu catchments (TANK), plus the Heretaunga Plains aquifer system.