Fieldays 2019: LIC's SPACE product is out of this world

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LIC has an exciting innovation which is literally out of this world - it allows farmers to monitor their farm from space.

The Country's Jamie Mackay caught up with LIC Chief Executive Wayne McNee to find out about more about SPACE, at Fieldays 2019.

"SPACE is a product that measures pasture from space" said McNee, who explained the technology uses satellites passing daily to take images to illustrate pasture growth on-farm.

McNee reckons it will save farmers a lot of work.

"It's fantastic because they get accurate pasture measurement and they don't have to walk around the farm measuring it with a plate meter".

A big topic amongst farmers at the moment is A2 genetics, and McNee said LIC is already selling a lot more A2.

"We sold about 450,000 straws of just A2 genetics last year and we're seeing that growing again this year, so farmers are really moving their herds towards A2".

Perhaps the most exciting news from Fieldays this week was the announcement of LIC's programme Resilient Dairy: Innovative Breeding for a Sustainable Future which will put more than $25 million towards innovation and sustainability in New Zealand's dairy industry.

"It's a seven year programme of research into genomics to improve the health of dairy animals" said McNee of Resilient Dairy, which LIC is leading with investment and support from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and DairyNZ.

"We think it's a great programme, it's going to really make a difference for New Zealand Dairy Farmers".

Find out more at www.lic.co.nz