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Can technologists collaborate to address tomorrow’s needs?

A moment of brilliance from Julia Jones at the recent Farmax conference was the epiphany that “the future has always been unknown”.  Not only did she bring an abundance of energy, but she made me sit up and listen. The only constant is the unknown of the future. A key change we are seeing now […]

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Is your Agritech IT product facing headwinds – where should you be looking for solutions? 

You or your company is heavily investing in an IT product, the success of which is very important to the business projections. Cash is burning, the development is slow, and you are finding many unexpected things to consider You are in new territory and losing sleep – where should you be looking?  Firstly, if you […]

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What makes agritech product teams effective?

A few short weeks ago, my colleague Graeme Ogle posted his thoughts on five essential characteristics of a great product owner. Graeme’s list is made on the back of his experiences and those of product owners he has worked with.  I thought I would riff a little on a related theme, hence this list of skills […]

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5 Essential characteristics of a great product owner

I have been involved with bespoke programming projects for 25 years – I have seen projects be both spectacularly successful and dismal failures. The success of a product in the market is in the hands of the product owner – and I have never seen a weak product owner produce a great product. When the […]

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Applying Information Science to agriculture

Sunset or sunrise, traditional or industrialised, niche or commodity? There sometimes appear to be as many opinions and forecasts for agriculture as there are commentators. When my colleagues and I started Rezare Systems in 2004 we made the decision that we would focus on agriculture despite the forecasts, and on ways we can contribute to […]

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How changes in mobile might affect your farming software

We’ve all seen the explosive growth in the use of mobile devices, and it may have encouraged you to think about using mobile software: to reach farmers, enhance your product, or arm your field team. That same growth has also seen changes in behaviour and people’s expectations from mobile tools, and it is worth considering […]

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Data sharing needed to farm sustainably

Whether its belching bovines blamed for contributing to climate change, stock access to waterways or the diffuse challenge of nitrate leaching, farming systems in New Zealand are under the microscope.

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How models can improve your farming decisions

Not many careers carry the same challenges of complexity as farming. Politics requires substantial adaptability. Consumer marketing and the share market both have challenges of trying to forecast what is erratic and volatile. Manufacturing requires controls over process and product quality. Farming combines all of these, and requires complex, multi-factor decisions that deal with climate […]