Two leading agricultural software providers have announced they will join forces to create a more compelling value proposition for New Zealand's pastoral farmers.
FarmIQ Systems and Crown Research Institute (CRI) AgResearch have formed a strategic partnership with the acquisition of Farmax - a decision support tool for farmers.
AgResearch will become a shareholder in FarmIQ Systems and FarmIQ's preferred provider of science and research going forward.
The move has the full backing of Te Awamutu man Andrew MacPherson, who is Farmax board chairman.
He says it is a positive and exciting move in the industry.
"Farmax is a proven tool which has added hundreds of millions of dollars of increased gross income for farmers," he says.
"I also believe AgResearch is the leading agricultural research provider in New Zealand, so there is a real synergy between the players in this merger."
Andrew is also pleased that Gavin McEwen, CEO of Farmax, will continue in his role and become part of the FarmIQ executive team, and that Farmax's high calibre staff will be retained.
Andrew will also continue as Farmax board chairman.
Andrew MacPherson pictured a decade ago speaking at Tokanui Dairy Research Farm when he was an AgResearch Board member and Tokanui Dairy Research Farm development committee member. Photo / Dean Taylor
Gavin views the partnership as having plenty of benefits for Farmax's own customers.
"The business will continue to provide its standalone products and services to our valued customers.
"Our goal is to unlock tangible benefits to all by improving interoperability and integration between both applications to make things easier, quicker and more accurate for customers," says Gavin.
"There are some exceptional software systems available to farm businesses, however, no one application does it all and the lack of integration between systems causes real frustrations for our clients, the FarmIQ and AgResearch partnership is a big step in the right direction."
CEO of FarmIQ Will Noble said the partnership was long overdue as both organisations have shared the same vision for the agriculture sector since its inception from the Primary Growth Partnership in 2010.
"If we want to become the leading decision support platform of choice for all pastoral farmers in New Zealand, then having AgResearch as a shareholder and the Farmax product to our whanau, brings with it strong industry credibility and a vast amount of science to our software - it's incredibly exciting for our farming customers and the industry as a whole."
The agricultural 'science' integrated within Farmax makes it unique and has helped deliver real impact to the sector estimated to be $1.1 billion in increased gross margin over the last decade alone.
AgResearch director of technology and digital services Greg Rossiter said the decision was made as part of the CRI's commitment to providing the agricultural industry with quality science and software-based decision support tools.
Going forward FarmIQ will invest the capital and provide the infrastructure to take Farmax to the next level, which was not considered AgResearch's core business.
Mr Rossiter said, "The partnership delivers our scientists opportunities to collaborate and strengthen relationships with key partners and FarmIQ shareholders."
