Big Names Back NZ Agtech Breakthrough

New funding will drive further expansion, development

Christchurch, March 25, 2022: Two global leaders in agriculture are helping advance world-first pasture technology designed, tested and made in New Zealand.

Investment from Gallagher and the Royal Barenbrug Group will fund wider farm roll-out and faster development for Christchurch-based Farmote Systems, company founder Richard Barton says.

Launched in Canterbury last spring, the Farmote System is a unique new way of automatically recording precise, consistent and reliable pasture data, 24/7. It now covers over 6000 hectares of farmland.

Fast forward

“We’re excited to have attracted new investment from Gallagher, as well as further investment from Barenbrug,” Richard Barton says.

“This will enable us to extend our services to other parts of New Zealand this year, and to Europe in 2023. We’re also recruiting staff to accelerate our development process.”

Barton founded Farmote Systems five years ago, with early backing from international grass specialist Barenbrug, headquartered in The Netherlands; and Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1 investment company.

Gallagher’s long history of success selling technology to farmers in NZ and overseas makes it a very welcome new shareholder, he says.

Perfect fit

Lisbeth Jacobs, Gallagher Global General Manager for Animal Management, says the iconic agtech company has been actively hunting for something like Farmote, especially since acquiring remote fencing developer Agersens, creator of eShepherd.

“We knew it would fit perfectly in the future farm eco-system we’ve been building for some time now. It’s beautifully smart technology that ticks all the boxes for us.”

Data generated by the Farmote System is valuable in itself, Jacobs says, but the real gain for farmers lies in integrating it with other technologies.

“We strongly believe improved decision making will enable farmers to run their operations more efficiently and productively in the future.

“All our digitally enabled technologies at Gallagher help farmers make good decisions, based on real time data without having to be physically present, so they can spend more time on what matters to them, and Farmote is another element in that eco-system.”

Class of its own

Intrigued by Barton’s concept since its inception, the Royal Barenbrug Group has since become increasingly positive about Farmote’s value as the only technology of its type in the world, Global Head John Thijssen says.

“Many companies sell satellite images for field monitoring. But if you dig a little bit deeper into these systems, they cannot tell the difference in absolute numbers between how much grass is growing in one field compared to another.

“Farmote is the only one that has spent the time and money developing an on the ground sensor that can measure the height of the grass in absolute terms, and integrated that with satellite imagery.

“It’s quite difficult to develop, but as a result of our involvement with Richard over the past few years our confidence has grown to the point where we have now increased our investment.”

International scope

The insight NZ farmers gain from traditional pasture measuring tools ‘pales in comparison’ with that provided by Farmote, Thijssen says.

“This is live information about grass growth, 24/7. We see global application for this technology, particularly in Western Europe where grassland is intensively managed.”

European farmers already familiar with sensor-based yield monitoring for arable crops have voiced interest in the Farmote System, and Barenbrug is excited about it because no other company has extended such technology to pastures.

For more detail visit www.farmote.com.

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