Satellites to aid of farmers

Farmers are looking to the heavens for information on how to manage their pasture.

Livestock Improvement Corp (LIC) said it had launched satellite technology called Space — for Satellite Pasture and Cover Evaluation — as a “a giant leap forward for pasture management”.

Space uses satellite images to measure pasture, sending detailed reports directly to farmers by email.

The technique has the ability to save farmers several hours a week by replacing the current way of measuring, which is either walking the farm or towing instruments behind a vehicle LIC, a farmer-owned cooperative, said.

The technology hasn’t previously been commercially viable in New Zealand due to cloud coverage, but LIC’s satellite provider takes daily images to counter the cloud problem.

“The Space service provides a game-changing opportunity for farmers to gain an objective assessment of pasture cover which will result in more informed decisionmaking around grazing, fertiliser and overall feed management,” LIC chief executive Wayne McNee said.

The satellites will pass over New Zealand daily and when a clear image is taken, a detailed pasture report is sent to the farmer within 24 hours.

Ron Pellow, executive director of the South Island Dairying Development Centre, which has a farm in the trial, said the technology would enable farmers to know when pasture supply was going up or down, and to respond immediately.

Initially Space will be available to farmers in Canterbury who are located within two 1000sq km areas from this month.