Advanced Agritechnology Centre
The Advanced Agritechnologies Centre (AAC), currently in development, will showcase the Waikato region’s dairy business expertise to the world.
AgResearch is converting their sheep & beef research farm to a ‘bleeding edge’ (very latest technology) R&D dairy farm at Tokanui in the South Waikato. The 800-cow research farm will use leading commercial practice and showcase high performance, future focused, dairy agritechnology.
Developing the understanding, use and uptake of new technology is a major platform for improvement in any industry. This initiative will be at the forefront of testing and demonstrating the application of new technologies for the dairy sector.
Waikato Innovation Park is a key partner in this project with a facilitation role linking industry players into the Centre. We will scope and recommend the industry best practice farm software, and aid the development of educational opportunities presented by the AAC.
Education and Technology Transfer
Funding of about $1m has been granted by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) to establish an educational centre alongside the AAC over the next 3 years.
A unique range of educational materials and delivery packages will be developed around the outputs from the research farm. An on-farm educator and a multimedia developer will turn farm data, outputs and research findings into information of value to a wide range of learners. Secondary school students, tertiary students, farmers and farm workers, and agricultural services workers will all benefit from on-site and virtual learning resources. Further information can be found on the website www.agritec.ac.nz
The Site
The Tokanui dairy platform currently under construction can be viewed here.
