About Agri Optics New Zealand Ltd

Agri Optics New Zealand is leading New Zealand  Precision Agriculture company with a strong farming background in both the arable and dairy sectors.  The company was founded by Craige, Roz and Jemma Mackenzie,  with Jemma overseeing the business on a day to day basis.  

Agri Optics New Zealand was established as a result of Craige's studies in 2008 as a Nuffield Scholar. While travelling around the world on his study tour he gained an insight into a wide range of technologies present throughout the world and how they would fit into New Zealand farming systems. One of the greatest things he saw was the potential to reduce costs, environmental pressure and greenhouse gas emissions through more precise management of inputs. This sparked an interest in some specific products  that Craige would then introduce into his family's own arable enterprise. And with the establishment of  Agri Optics  these are now available to the New Zealand farmer.

Agri Optics New Zealand Ltd  is a company based on providing precision agriculture tools to increase the efficiency of farming systems within New Zealand. Tools that we know will work on New Zealand farms. We provide New Zealand farmers with  with cutting edge crop sensing technology, ideas and support to help drive their farming businesses forward. Here at Agri Optics we are advocates of sustainable farming systems, sustainable both environmentally and economically.   

                 We believe in providing solutions.  

                               We are farmers, providing solutions for farmers.

 

Craige Mackenzie

Craige and wife Roz operate Greenvale Pastures Ltd, a 200 hectare arable cropping property near Methven, NZ. They are also partners in Three Springs Dairies Ltd, a neighbouring 320 ha dairy farming milking 1150 cows. The couple are showcased on the sustainable farming website “Good Farm Stories”, launched in 2009 by the Greens Party.

Craige has been farming since 1984 and has developed a keen interest in sustainable farming practices and innovative solutions for New Zealand agriculture.

Craige is a member of the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) Strategic Research Committee and board member for Southern Precision Agriculture Association (SPAA). He is a recent recipient of a Ballance Farm Environmental Award for Nutrient and Irrigation Management and runner-up  in the 2010 Lincoln University Foundation Farmer of the Year Awards recognising Innovation in Farming. At these awards he was also presented with the AGMARDT innovation award for his work on the Smart-N fertiliser application system. In 2010 Craige was also awarded the Farming Award from the New Zealand Grassland Trust for his "Adoption and promotion of technology and good pastoral management practices in dairying".

In 2008 Craige was awarded a New Zealand Nuffield Farming Scholarship, publishing a paper on “Understanding the Carbon Footprint in Farming Systems”.

Craige is involved in research programmes with various organisations including Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry – Sustainable Farming Fund (MAF-SFF), Environment Canterbury (ECan), National Institute for Water and Atmosphere (NIWA), Dairy NZ, AgResearch and the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR).

 

Jemma Mackenzie

Jemma is a recent Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours graduate from Lincoln University, Canterbury NZ, completing her Honours with a study on Biochar. Her enthusiasm for Precision Agriculture (P.A.) was stimulated while completing a year of Study Abroad at Colorado State University in 2008. During this time she undertook study in G.I.S., Soils and Crop Management, Issues in Agriculture and Irrigation Efficiency and was exposed to a great degree of differing P.A. technologies .

Jemma has worked on various dairy and arable farms here in New Zealand and completed a summer as a crop consulting intern for Servi-Tech Inc. in USA, gaining further agronomic skills and insight into P.A. issues.

Jemma is a recipient of the Hugh Williams Ravensdown Memorial Scholarship, and the John Mowbray Howard Tripp Scholarship for Leadership in Agriculture.