Two leading agricultural software providers have announced today 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.
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”.
Gavin McEwen, CEO of Farmax 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”.
Mr McEwen continues “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”.