48 | RURAL SERVICES » Farmax Farmax helps farmers maintain balance Farmax Customers Vicki and Levenson Gower of Stockland Farm (top). Farmax Customer Phil Journeaux of AgFirst Waikato. Kim Newth Helping pastoral farmers to succeed is the key goal for decision support specialist Farmax Ltd, recently named as one of only three nalists for the Technology Award at the inaugural Beef + Lamb New Zealand Awards. Farmax Chief Executive Gavin McEwen says the company is thrilled to have been picked as a nalist, particularly given judges’ feedback about the high quality of entries. “We see this as a great opportunity to highlight what we have done over the years,” says Gavin. “I was pleasantly surprised when we got the phone call to say we were nalists – it’s very exciting!” Winners will be announced in Napier on 2 February, after Covid alert levels led to the awards’ dinner being postponed from its original date last October. While Farmax as a company started in 2003, the IP that drives FARMAX software goes back around 30 years and has paved the way to a trusted and well-founded reputation for accuracy in farm modelling. “Put simply, FARMAX is a farm modelling tool that works by helping sheep, beef, deer and dairy farmers make good decisions and get the balance right. The incorporation of science and commercialisation of science model – and the fact that it can be very useful – is why we’re still here.” Until recently, Farmax was a subsidiary of AgResearch but last year was acquired by FarmIQ as part of a strategic partnership with AgResearch. Farmax continues to operate independently and maintains a very strong relationship with AgResearch. CEO of FarmIQ Will Noble describes the partnership as “incredibly exciting”, noting that agricultural science integrated within Farmax made it unique and had helped deliver real impact to the sector estimated to be $1.1 billion in increased gross margin over the last decade alone. FARMAX and FARMIQ are natural partners and complementary products. “Essentially both of them should be in the farm toolkit,” says Gavin, who notes that Farm IQ is used to record historical farm data, while FARMAX is all about farm forecasting. “In coming months and years, we’re going to be working closely together to unlock the synergistic bene ts for New Zealand farmers.” FARMAX Analysis is used by farmers to model scenarios for the season ahead and create a plan based on what is most likely to happen. FARMAX Advantage is a more advanced forecasting tool that can generate updated forecasts through the season based on changing data. FARMAX modelling is fundamentally applicable to pastoral farming systems anywhere in the world. The software is also being used in Australia, the UK, the US and South America. “We have long standing relationships with Lincoln University and Massey University too and, over the last ve years, have got involved with the University of Waikato as well.” It means tomorrow’s farmers are learning about FARMAX farm modelling as a useful tool to help in their understanding of farm systems. Gavin says, “Let’s remember, FARMAX does not do it alone; it needs motivated farmers and good consultants too. We have some pretty useful IP that we think in general is underutilised by the agricultural industry. We want to break down barriers so more farmers can use FARMAX as a tool to help them get the balance right on farm returns, productivity, feed and the environment.”
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