Beef and Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is three years into building a digital extension programme it expects to transform on-farm decision-making, as the organisation aligns its strategy with the government’s export revenue target.

New Zealand’s sheep flock has fallen from 60 million to about 20 million over 30 years, but carcass weight production is only 12% lower, says Alan Thomson, chief executive of Beef and Lamb New Zealand. He says 51% of that productivity gain over the past 25 years has come from genetics, which is why the sheep breeders forum sits at the heart of the organisation’s annual Out the Gate conference.

“The strategy has evolved to what we call Vision 35, which embraces the government’s challenge of doubling export revenue in New Zealand, so that has honed what was an already well-formed strategy by the board.”

Getting the full expression from improved genetics requires matching feed quality, Thomson says, and the organisation is working on both the accelerators and the brakes to productivity.

“No use having a Formula 1 racing car with just 91 going into it.

“To to fully get the expression of those genetics, we’ve got to have the pasture and forage going into those animals.”

B+LNZ is working on genomics, facial eczema, parasites and pasture quality, with farmer adoption the critical variable. A digital tool called Bella currently gives farmers answers drawn from the organisation’s research investment. Within three years, the plan is a digital twin of each farm that overlays B+LNZ’s knowledge and identifies the gap between top-quintile farmers and the next group down, he says.

“What we know in that is the difference between the very top farmers, and that next group down, is making the right decision at the right time.”

The system would, with the farmer’s permission, identify decisions needing to be made that day and follow up if they were not acted on, Thomson says.

Take-up is not confined to younger operators. B+LNZ’s farming insights team interviews 500 farmers a year, and recent fieldwork in North Canterbury found four farmers aged more than 60 using drones for practical farm management in the same week, he says.

When younger and older operators work alongside each other, Thomson says, the merging of those two different skill sets drives faster adoption.

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.