A complete farm planning system, Farmax^®, was launched in 2001 as a joint venture with industry consultants. While based around powerful farm planning software, it is actually a good example of AgResearch selling access to its human capital.

Farmax^® grew out of the AgResearch-developed Stockpol™ software, a pasture modelling and planning tool for sheep, beef and deer farms. However, powerful though Stockpol is, it is equally true that there are few success stories involving sales of sophisticated agricultural software. The key to commercialising Stockpol™ - and thereby getting it into the hands of New Zealand farmers - has been to link it with farm consultancy services. The result is a comprehensive farm management service that has software at its centre, but not as the sole tool.

The revenue stream, in fact, comes from the consultancy services, underpinned by the software.

One step in the commercialisation process was refining the "front end" of Stockpol™ and an associated program, Farm Tools™, to a Windows™ interface, making them more user friendly. Constant updating, refining and upgrading are the keys to Farmax^®'s continued success. "Models die if you don't feed them," says Farmax Director, Greg Lambert.

That is why there is a strong help desk backup for the system, and also one reason why, at this stage, a significant proportion of Farmax revenue is being reinvested in further development with an eye to more growth for the company.