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Celebrating the release of ICAR Animal Data Exchange version 1.3

I have been involved with the International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) and its Animal Data Exchange (ADE) working group since I was first privileged to attend its annual conference, or “General Assembly” in Berlin in 2014. It was eye-opening to see all large numbers of people and organisations collaborating in diverse areas around livestock […]

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Imagine – evidencing compliance differently

Imagine farmers, growers, and food producers demonstrating the attributes of their products.  Imagine them showing how they comply with food safety standards, environmental management expectations, social responsibility, animal welfare standards, product traceability and provenance.  Now, imagine farmers doing this without filling in forms and maintaining binders of paper documentation.  You may say I’m a dreamer, […]

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Powering up the Waka

When it comes to the impact of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, all of us are affected, and that applies doubly for future generations. We will be in the same figurative boat. And if we are to mitigate, offset, and reduce those emissions, we all need to be “pulling in the same direction”, coordinating […]

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What makes agritech product teams effective?

A few short weeks ago, my colleague Graeme Ogle posted his thoughts on five essential characteristics of a great product owner. Graeme’s list is made on the back of his experiences and those of product owners he has worked with.  I thought I would riff a little on a related theme, hence this list of skills […]

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Thinking about trust in agricultural data

If you work in agriculture or agritech, you’ll know that the last few years have brought a continuous stream of amazing technology announcements. Tiny, embedded devices that watch machinery and animals in motion or sense environmental factors. An array of low-earth orbit satellites continuously imaging our earth. Artificial intelligence (AI) applications that will identify disease, […]

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Animal data standard broadens scope

Version 1.2 of the Animal Data Exchange specification has been released by ICAR, the International Committee for Animal Recording. The ICAR Animal Data Exchange (ADE) Working Group includes animal recording specialists from Europe, the United States, and Australasia. The group has developed a modern, API and JSON-based specification for individual animal data that aligns with […]

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Agritech developers collaborate on map data interoperability

There is no shortage of developers creating software, tools, and technologies for agriculture. Almost the opposite in fact. Farmers tell of the many different tools and solutions they need to use to record compliance information, analyse farm performance, monitor health and safety, and communicate with their staff and suppliers. And there is room for a […]

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Why we value “Agility” (and what does it mean?)

A while back I wrote some notes on Agility for our team, and I’ve been encouraged to share these more widely, so with that context in place – read on! – Andrew Cooke What does agility mean for an organisation? Ultimately it is the ability to change and adapt in response to changes in environment. […]

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Pasture Growth Forecaster and LIC SPACE – a celebration

Pasture growth forecasting and automated measurement have been the subject of many years research, and development in New Zealand. With the launch of LIC SPACE integrating Pasture Growth Forecaster, researchers and practitioners participated in a celebration event.

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Platforms – how to monetise a successful agri platform

How to monetise an agribusiness platform  Over the past two blogs I’ve explained what a platform is, why they’re important for agribusinesses to understand, and how to begin designing a platform for your business. However, you may have noticed a gap in our platform conversation. What is the business model? How do you profit off […]

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International livestock data standard released

The ICAR Animal Data Exchange working group has released a set of JSON and API standards for livestock data exchange. The International Committee for Animal Recording is an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) that helps members and stakeholders share guidelines, best practices and standards in animal recording and production. The culmination of around two years of […]

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Platforms – what are the critical elements and how do I design one?

How do I design a platform? Since writing the last blog  – the world has changed. New Zealand is in level 3 of our lockdown, and thousands of businesses are adjusting to the new normal. Perhaps now, more than ever, the value of the platform is obvious. A business modelled on the traditional pipeline is […]