14 Ag&Ed Volume 140 – July 3, 2023
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Ag&Ed Educational resources for schools & students
Read, listen to, and watch what is happening in Aotearoa New Zealand’s food and fibre sector by scanning the QR codes or following the links. Answer the questions to complete the exercises. Watch this
Watch this
How much feed is needed? Animal feed demand and pasture supply are looked at in this Agricademy video. After watching the video, complete the online quiz to test your knowledge. bit.ly/break-feed
What is Onside?
Have a go: 1. In the New Zealand dairy farming system, the farmer tries to match the amount of grass grown on the farm with the amount of feed needed by the cows at any given time. True or false? 2. What does rotation length mean? 3. As a rule, dry cows need more feed than lactating cows, unless they are pregnant. True or false? 4. A dry cow generally needs how much feed per day?
New Zealand agritech company Onside has been developing an app to simplify safety, operations, communications and on-farm biosecurity on rural properties.
Stretch yourself: 5. In general, an 8ha paddock would give 400 milking cows, with 200m2 per cow, how much grazing time? 6. What does the farmer usually do if there is not enough grass growing on the farm in winter to feed the cows?
bit.ly/about-Onside
Learn more at agricademy.co.nz
Have a go: 1. What problem was Onside created to solve? 2. How can people’s movements be used to help modelling for biosecurity? 3. What is the arable sector striving to do with the data collected?
In the news
Stretch yourself: 4. Ben lists the things that contribute to the success of a start-up business. What are they? 5. Agritech is high value and scalable. What makes it easily scalable? See more at getonside.com and agritechnz.org.nz
In the news
Why was Macca’s at Fieldays?
How can an app help farmers with pasture control?
McDonald’s (Macca’s) was at Fieldays to give Kiwis an inside look at its food supply chain and to showcase what goes into their shopping basket.
Aimer software is an AI-driven digital assistant and operating system developed by an agritech start-up company, Aimer Farming, to help farmers manage their pasture.
bit.ly/fieldays-maccas
bit.ly/pasture-app
Have a go: 1. How much does McDonald’s spend on local ingredients for NZ restaurants? 2. What is the value of NZ produce exported to other McDonald’s markets? 3. How many million kg of NZ cheese and beef was exported to McDonald’s markets in 2022?
Have a go: 1. How will the recent investment boost from Sprout help the company? 2. What other technology does Shane use on his dairy farm? 3. What is meant by a pasture deficit? 4. Why is it important that farmers are able to make informed decisions about pasture?
Stretch yourself: 4. Why do you think eyebrows were raised when Macca’s was first seen at Fieldays? 5. How many different NZ-grown ingredients used at McDonald’s can you list?
Stretch yourself: 5. What data does the system use to calculate whether the farm is moving into a pasture surplus or deficit? 6. Why does Shane see new technology being a vital part of attracting and keeping staff? See more at aimer-farming.com and agritechnz.org.nz