Online performance tool designed to help farmers

Fonterra Co-operative Group and Livestock Improvement Corporation, both farmer-owned co-operatives, are set to launch a new online farm performance tool in mid-February.

Agrigate, first announced in July 2015, creates a single site for farmers to access core data such as milk production and quality data, herd data, pasture data and local weather forecasts, among others, in a bid to become more efficient.

"A key outcome will be enabling farmers to make the most efficient use of their resources, which is important in both tough and better times," LIC chief executive Wayne McNee said in a joint statement with Fonterra.

According to the two co-operatives, the tool was developed in response to a request from farmers given an ever-increasing range of technology and information.

A prototype was trialled last August and the aim is to fully launch it next month.

A Fonterra spokesman said the tool would be subscription-based and the cost would depend on what information farmers wanted to include.

"The intent is to keep the cost to farmers as low as possible and we are working with industry partners to sponsor farmers on to the platform, which will reduce the cost further," he said.

The tool was trialled last August with 50 farmers. It will be subject to ongoing development and, according to the Fonterra spokesman, there is "significant interest" from a wide range of agri companies and data providers that want to be involved.

The tool would initially be available only to New Zealand farmers but as the project progressed whether it could be adapted for use outside New Zealand would be investigated, he said.