Computer to help farmers

Press, 17 April 1980, Page 16

Computer to help farmers

The computer-based farm management information unit to be established at Lincoln College on the $278,000 grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation will not be the first use of computers in farming in New Zealand, but is an important step in their use. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries already runs two systems called Sheeplan and Beefplan into which information about stock. is 'fed, and. from which assess- ' inents and. comparisons of individual ■ beasts are readily available. Although these systems met an initial resistance, Sheeplan in particular appears to be gaining in popularity. Before buying rams, for instance, some farmers now seek Sheeplan information. The Kellogg Farm Management Unit is likely to concentrate on financial management. Farmers who use it will be able to -obtain quick assessments of their income and expenses. This will enable them to make adjustments. The system should also be able to provide vast amounts of technical information and help with such calculations as the benefits of buying expensive agricultural machinery. Already the system is being used for poultry farming. Some of the early work will be experimental. Farmers will be finding out ways in which they can use the unit, and the staff will be finding out how the unit can best serve the interests of farmers. .Almost certainly farming is going to become more precise in its measurements. Computers will be an

aid -towards this. Their use is ■ more widespread in the United States and in Britain. Dr Peter Nuthall,! who is in charge of the unit, studied their use in those two countries recently. -,

Farmers will be charged for their use of the new unit though the charges are expected to be modest. When the grant, from the foundation runs out the unit will have to be self-sufficient. Such-a requirement will help to ensure that the whole system is kept as simple as possible so that farmers will get the maximum return from the information they feed in.

The unit is not the first grant to Lincoln College from the Kellogg Foundation. Mr John Pryde, of the Agricultural Economics Research Unit, has been running a Kellogg New Zealand Rural Leadership Programme for the last two years, on a $25,000 grant extended over five years. The foundation was established in 1930 and since that time has made grants worth $5OO million. for general programmes, agriculture, education, and health. The areas eligible for grants are the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.

The latest grant' comes as expenditure 'in universities and agricultural colleges is being restrained. It means that New Zealand is going to be able to take advantage of an important development in the key industry of agriculture at a time when the money was unlikely to have come from domestic sources.