Winners of the LIC Dairy Farm Award in the 2010 Ballance Farm Environment Awards will receive FarmKeeper, a special farm management tool designed to improve the productive capacity of their operations.
New Zealand Farm Environment Award Trust General Manager David Natzke says LIC will give a FarmKeeper package to LIC Dairy Farm Award winners from each of the eight regions participating in the annual awards.
“LIC offered this extra prize for the first time in the 2009 awards and it was very well received by the winners.”
FarmKeeper enables farmers to map every square metre of the farm and ensure the precise measurement and application of such things as fertiliser and effluent; it also easily measures fence-lines, water reticulation, pasture utilisation and even the ratio of crops or trees to pasture.
Rob Ford, LIC’s General Manager Farm Systems, says the FarmKeeper package will include two activations, allowing the programme to be loaded onto two PCs.
He says the FarmKeeper prize package includes a free aerial photograph of the farm.
“FarmKeeper can also be integrated with a C-Dax pasture meter so pasture cover readings can be uploaded, via Bluetooth, into the FarmKeeper programme. This system is very easy to use and it gives farmers an accurate picture of how much pasture cover they have on the farm at any one time.”
LIC is a proud and committed sponsor of the Ballance Farm Environment Awards and Rob Ford says the FarmKeeper prize is another way for the cooperative to acknowledge the dairy farmers who are doing their best to improve sustainability.
“We see it as a good way to recognise and congratulate them for their standout performance – and we are sure they will gain value from using FarmKeeper.”
David Natzke says the NZFEA Trust is again delighted to have the additional sponsorship prize provided by LIC.
“LIC is a highly valued sponsor of the Ballance Farm Environment Awards. Their support and that provided by other key sponsors is crucial to the ongoing success of the Ballance Farm Environment Awards programme.”
Entries for the 2010 Ballance Farm Environment Awards are still open in Northland (close December 7, 2009), Southland (close December 18) and Otago (close December 14). Entry forms can be obtained from www.bfea.org.nz or participating regional councils.
For more information on the Ballance Farm Environment Awards, contact David Natzke, General Manager, New Zealand Farm Environment Award Trust, phone 07 834 0400, or visit www.bfea.org.nz
