FarmWizard News

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FarmWizard puts the magic into local Farm Managment

FarmWizard, a brand-new Northern Ireland company and winner of an Invest NI SMART award, is today launching an internet farm management system, marking an exciting new chapter in the application of IT in agriculture. The company is already in talks with CanWest DHI in Canada, as well as a number of international genetics companies, all of which are interested in availing of its innovative technology. FarmWizard empowers the farmer to access crucial farming information using the internet, mobile phone or fax. FarmWizard is a first, not only for Northern Ireland, but also for agriculture worldwide. Ulster Farmers Union president Campbell Tweed said: “FarmWizard has crossed a rubicon in Agri-IT. It’s been many years since farmers first used computers to help their business. However there has always been problem with the recording of accurate information. FarmWizard gives the ability to do this simply, using a mobile phone, for example. In the current economic climate farmers need to be ready to adopt new technologies like FarmWizard that can save time and help make their business information more accurate.”

Cambell Tweed Demonstrates the joy of FarmWizard text messaging. FarmWizard company founder Terry Canning commented, “The idea for FarmWizard came from listening to farmers who were keen to take advantage of computer technology to help their businesses, but after a hard day’s work just didn’t have the time to record information onto a computer. What we have done with FarmWizard is to use cutting-edge technology to enable farmers to record and access information where and when they need it – even out in the fields on their mobile phone!” The service integrates fully with APHIS, the Northern Ireland DARD herd database, so farmers can have their herd details downloaded and be ready to start on the system immediately after registering on the web at www.farmwizard.com. In September of this year the service was accepted by DARD onto the “Increasing Access to ICT scheme” which saw DARD fund a number of Northern Ireland milk producers onto the service. The first release of the service will have a range of essential recording-keeping facilities including a DARD-accepted Herd Register, an online trading area and a Breed Cycle Manager which can manage breeding records and send text messages to farmers when potential breeding opportunities arise, hence maximising herd fertility. Even prior to the official launch, hundreds of farmers all over the world have pre-registered for the service.