In October 2020, LIC launched an update to its SPACE pasture measurement service. SPACE uses satellite data to predict available pasture for each paddock on New Zealand farms.
The updated version incorporates predicted pasture growth rates from Pasture Growth Forecaster, a wholesale data service developed by Map of Ag with models and funding from DairyNZ. Agrigate, Farmax, and Ravensdown have also created innovative products that use data from the Pasture Growth Forecaster.
Pasture growth forecasting and automated measurement have been the subject of many years aspiration, research, and development by the New Zealand industry.
On 16 November 2020, researchers, specialists, and industry participants met at DairyNZ’s Newstead centre (and remotely via Zoom) to celebrate the progress to date and share their vision for the future of feed planning on NZ pastoral farms. Each speaker offers their personal experiences in shifting the industry into more quantitative feed planning, the challenges and the future bright spots.
