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What's the news? 

Fonterra has announced an On Farm Services incentive programme for qualifying farmer-shareholders.  

The scheme allows farmers who meet their cooperative difference standard, a baseline performance and efficiency standard, to receive what is effectively a $1,500 yearly subsidy to invest in on-farm technology or services.  

Ranges from animal performance tools from genetics companies, as well as pasture and data optimisation tools, and on-farm planting to improve carbon sequestration.  

Pasture Management: Apps and dashboards, AI and satellite imagery to manage and optimise pasture on farms.

Data optimisation: Farmers deal with so much data flowing in through so many on-farm touchpoints, some services aggregate all that info into key insights farmers can rely on to make good decisions.  

Animal performance: Animal testing on their cows. 

Why it matters  

• Obviously a massive deal – this contributes so much to on-farm costs and gives farmers a comfortable buffer to experiment with more technology that could be a massive help.  
• It contributes to the trend of growing tech use on-farm by farmers.  
• In a 2023 survey by DairyNZ, 18% of farmers reported using cow wearables (smart monitoring devices like collars or ear tags), compared to 3% in 2018. This growth translates to more than 820,000 cows now equipped with devices. 
• It’s great news because technology is helping farmers be more efficient in a world where they face more regulation and compliance requirements.  
• Fonterra/NZ has a great reputation internationally for producing highly efficient, high-quality milk that's desirable compared to many other countries.  
• It drew the attention of food conglomerates Mars and Nestle, who are kicking in to help fund the subsidy. 

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