The task of creating freshwater farm plans has been made a little easier for farmers with the release by FarmIQ of a new step-by-step guide linked to its existing farm management software.
Freshwater farm plans are a legislated planning document to provide farmers and growers with a practical way to identify, manage and reduce the impact of farming on the freshwater environment.
These plans have initially been rolled out in Waikato, Southland, West Coast, North Otago and Horizons regional districts, and will eventually be a requirement for all farmers and growers.
FarmIQ executive manager Gavin McEwen said the FarmIQ freshwater farm plan tool takes farmers through the process of mapping their land, assessing their risks to freshwater and developing an action plan.
“This is all linked to a digital map of their farm in FarmIQ, making it simple for farmers, farm advisors, certifiers and auditors to develop or monitor these plans all in one place,” McEwen said.
FarmIQ is a map-based farm management tool that helps farmers keep track of staff management, land and feed data, animal recording and compliance information.
Because FarmIQ is map based, it provides a basis for the map and land-use focus of freshwater farm plans. The release of the freshwater farm plan tool coincides with the release of a new version of the FarmIQ software, FarmIQ Lite.
