Ravensdown is a large cooperative of New Zealand farmers, formed in 1978 by a group of farmers who wanted to gain better control of their fertiliser supplies (Ravensdown, 2008). Ravensdown reported a turnover of $672 million in 2008, with nearly 1.5 million tonnes of fertiliser sold in that year. The company began using GIS to record and present soil testing data, but involvement in modern spatial information technology grew out of the desire to be more involved in the fertiliser ground spreading market, which is a fertiliser placement service provided to farmers (accurate spreading of fertiliser by truck). Usually this operates as a joint venture with the drivers involved.

Ravensdown estimate that they have around 60 trucks servicing this market out of a total of around 300 nationwide. It was estimated that 75 per cent of all the trucks nationwide would be using GPS. Other New Zealand players in this space are TracMap and Precision Tracking. TracMap was established for this particular application/software and has 12 permanent staff.

The company sees its strengths in its adherence to Spreadmark (the quality assurance scheme for the placement of fertiliser on farm land in New Zealand) and its quality equipment which enables it to cover larger areas (wider spread). It was mentioned that the "other half" of the New Zealand fertiliser market does not offer the types of services and functionality that Ravensdown offers.

GPS enabled Ravensdown to carry out more effective spreading using a proprietary system on its trucks (largely ‘out of the box' software on trucks) - this controls the spinners and enables data capture and uses a highly accurate differential signal. Data transfer occurs via the mobile network.

The area in which Ravensdown had to invest more significantly in terms of spatial technology was the ‘back end' processing of the information from the trucks. This was automated using arc software which creates centre lines and polygons, as well as a pdf file for customers that is available via an external map viewer using aerial imagery from TerraLink (see Figure 17).

The system was originally developed by Eagle Technology, but more recently GBS redesigned the system using ".net" and other open source web based applications.

Figure 17: Fertiliser application map customer view

The efficiency gain from using modern spatial information technology in the delivery of fertiliser application services was estimated at 30 per cent - in terms of time and fuel saved and the wider spread, which is only achievable with any degree of confidence with real time GPS track/guidance. Less fertiliser is used due to the reduction or complete elimination of overlap. There is also an ability to drive at night during peak season which is of value to farmers.

Ravensdown continues to invest in its GIS resources, with two staff on hardware in vehicles, and 20 per cent of one FTE in the head office; the company continues to contract out detailed design matters and reported that the capability of consultants is continually improving. Current data includes aerial (TerraLink), cadastral and fertiliser application history, but Ravensdown would like to see a national farms database (extension of Agribase).

As steps for the future, Ravensdown can see benefits from a digital elevation model as it could be used to plan application based on slope and aspect to water and sunshine (but would also require more detailed data on climate, rainfall and temperature). A key aim in fertiliser application is to avoid rivers so that runoff into sensitive waterways can be minimised. Ravensdown emphasised the value of data sharing.

Ravensdown would value having access to other information such as pasture growth recorded by farmers using Pasture Coach, farm production, planned fertiliser applications, irrigation, and so on. The data are already held by farmers, and Ravensdown could provide storage and integration via an external viewer. The Chief Information Officer of Ravensdown suggested that a national list of what data are available would be useful (and how to get the data).

More generally, the company reported that farmers struggled to understand the value of spatial data initially but are now increasingly demanding it. Corporate farmers in particular were seen as increasingly using it for tracking of fertiliser use and to compare nutrient budgets with actual outcomes, i.e., they are seen as working on getting down to the field level which essentially means trying to get to grips with variable rate approaches and technology.

Ravensdown mentioned that imagery is still seen as being expensive, however they are happy to work with government and commercial providers at reasonable cost. For Ravensdown, key considerations are that it needs to be current and orthocorrected (i.e., correlate to differential GPS on trucks).

This case study has been taken from the Spatial Information in the New Zealand Economy - Realising Productivity Gains report, August 2009.