Massey e-centre/eCOGENT Collaboration

Massey e-centre/eCOGENT Collaboration

Massey University's commercial arm, the Albany-based e-centre, and eCOGENT Farm Business Systems today announced a new collaboration designed to assist eCOGENT make more New Zealand pastoral farms increasingly profitable and more environmentally sustainable.

The collaboration, which will help eCOGENT grow its business, comes on the back of a just completed e-centre study that shows the majority of eCOGENT members are seeing an improvement in their farm profitability.

The study also shows eCOGENT farms have reduced their environmental impact through less intensive stocking and through a reduction of over 60% in their use of nitrogen fertilisers. Farmers confirmed this was achieved against a backdrop of improved soil, pasture and animal health.

Steve Corbett, the e-centre’s Chief Executive says that they have been impressed by the comprehensive, profit-centric approach taken by eCOGENT’s technology coupled with its ethos of moving to a more sustainable farming system.

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“e-centre sees an opportunity to help eCOGENT take a forward looking product and message to New Zealand farmers,” says Steve.

“With commercial and research expertise supporting potential high-growth information technology companies as our core business it was logical for the e-centre to offer its services to eCOGENT.”

eCOGENT provides comprehensive profit management software to dairy and dry stock farmers with integrated strategic business planning, business coaching and networking.
The company’s structured approach to farm business management allows farmers to take greater control of their financial performance and remove much of the guesswork and risk associated with farming.

Peter Floyd, eCOGENT’s Managing Director, welcomes the association with Massey University’s e-centre.

“We look forward to jointly making New Zealand farmers more successful,” he says.

“The ability to do this is centered on our unique financial software that forecasts daily profit from the dry matter consumed by each class of livestock. This results in more objective and more profitable stocking and farm management decisions.”

Environmentally sustainable farming methods are a strong driver of profitability and can be implemented using eCOGENT’s management tools, says Floyd.

These methods include building up the soil’s organic matter to enliven soil biology, improve drainage and sequester atmospheric carbon; growing a diversity of grasses, legumes and herbs to improve animal nutrition; maintaining longer pasture residuals; avoiding soil damage from pugging or ploughing; fortifying soils with biologically friendly enhancers; and reducing the reliance on energy intensive supplementary feeding.

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