MPI invests $600,000 into AI grazing software platform
MPI invests $600,000 into AI grazing software platform
AIMER Farming has received significant co-investment funding from the government and its own resources to develop its pasture management platform.
$600,000 will be invested by the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Primary Sector Growth Fund (MPI) in a $1.675 million project with AIMER. The new feature, called Ask AIMER, will let farmers pose questions directly to the system and receive targeted recommendations.
“Rather than farmers having to sift through dashboards and insights, they can ask a question,” says Jeremy Bryant, founder and CTO of AIMER Farming.
“It will use the intelligence that we’ve built up over a number of years to give them very targeted answers and recommendations.”
Launched in 2023 and used by more than 650 farms, the platform works by having farmers scan individual paddocks with a smartphone, a process Bryant says takes about five seconds per scan.
The new feature builds on this foundation, allowing farmers to query the system directly through a smartphone interface. The tool connects to proprietary models that interpret farm-specific data rather than relying on generic outputs.
He says the system estimates pasture mass, generates a feed wedge, and autogenerates a grazing plan. Farmers typically measure once a week, though some are now doing partial farm walks every three to four days during peak growth periods.
Bryant says the system needs to be grounded in the specifics of each farm, not generic responses.
“Each farm is unique. It needs to be guard-railed and trusted,” he says. “If the farmers don’t trust it, they won’t use the recommendations and you’ve sort of lost the point of it.”
Ask AIMER will function similarly to a voice assistant, and will roll out over the next 18 to 24 months, with early features released as they are ready.
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